Muslim Brotherhood should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, UK Parliament hears

British MPs say group is intolerant of other beliefs and drives 'fanaticism'

Yusuf Al Qaradawi is a leading Muslim Brotherhood figurehead based in Qatar. Reuters

A British MP called for the Muslim Brotherhood to be proscribed as a terrorist group as politicians criticised its intolerance towards other faiths, during a parliamentary debate on the persecution of Christians.

Ian Paisley of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party said he would raise the matter with Britain’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, within days.

The session also questioned why the UK government publicly said it stood for freedom of religion yet rolled out “the red carpet” for leaders such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was accused of “being a problem for Christians”.

“The Government should also move to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation that inspires hatred and attacks on Christians at home and abroad,” Mr Paisley said on Thursday.

“This is an organisation that uses and abuses the beliefs of a whole culture to attack Christians and others, which is frightening and wrong.

“It hides in and uses mosques illegitimately for its hatred against Christians, and it is right and proper that the full facts about the Muslim Brotherhood in this nation are brought out."

Mr Paisley also referred to the visit to London this month by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, who reportedly told MPs the Brotherhood turned Muslims’ “sacred beliefs into a tool of hatred”.

Prince Faisal expressed amazement, Mr Paisley said, that the UK government had not banned the Muslim Brotherhood.

Bob Stewart, an MP from the ruling Conservative Party, drew attention to the Brotherhood’s duplicitous nature as he recalled a visit to Egypt in 2011 to meet members of the group after the removal of president Hosni Mubarak.

“They assured me that they had no political intentions in Egypt and that they did not want to govern the country," Mr Stewart said.

Mr Paisley also criticised a highly controversial mobile phone app released last year by a company whose chairman is Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood ideologue who is living in Qatar.

The app, which could at one point be downloaded from Google Play and Apple’s App Store, was accused of propagating anti-Semitism.

“We can see where this fanaticism can go and how it is driven,” Mr Paisley said.

Al Qaradawi has been named as a terrorist by several countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt.