Muslim Brotherhood Abandons Mohammed Badie… Calls for Election of a New Guide

Activists within the Muslim Brotherhood have called for the election of a new Guide to replace Mohammed Badie, the current Guide, who is imprisoned in Egypt and has been sentenced to death in the high-profile “Platform Events” case. This call comes amid the ongoing weakness and division within the Brotherhood, which is listed as a terrorist organization in several Arab countries.

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The call has gained traction within the Brotherhood, and details have been sent to several leaders of the Brotherhood‘s rival factions, including Helmy El-Gazar, head of the political bureau of the Salah Abdel-Haq faction, Gamal Hashmat, a leader of the same faction and member of the General Shura Council, Amir Bassam, member of the General Shura Council, Osama Suleiman, spokesperson for the Salah Abdel-Haq faction, Mohamed Montaser and Yahya Moussa, representatives of the General Office faction abroad, and Adel Rached, a Brotherhood leader and head of the Egyptian Association in Turkey, as well as journalists working for the Brotherhood’s channels such as Hamza Zawba, Mohamed Nasser, and Moataz Matar.

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The proposal to elect a new Guide for the Brotherhood calls for the three factions of the Brotherhood (the Salah Abdel-Haq faction in London, the Mahmoud Hussein faction in Istanbul, and the General Office faction / Change current, along with the group associated with Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, former head of crisis management abroad, who was part of the General Office faction but had previously separated from it) to meet and agree on an operational formula and a specific timeline for electing a new General Guide for the Brotherhood to replace Mohammed Badie.

The proponents of this call reject proposals aimed at reforming the Brotherhood in the absence of a Guide, including the project to separate the religious wing from the political wing, which has been proposed in various contexts.

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The supporters of electing a new Guide argue that their proposal is driven by a desire to resolve the Brotherhood‘s various crises, including internal division and the crisis of the Brotherhood‘s prisoners in Egypt. They explain that the current Guide, Mohammed Badie, is in prison and cannot fulfill his roles, and that electing a new Guide could help the Brotherhood negotiate with its adversaries and facilitate reaching a deal for the release of the Brotherhood‘s prisoners.

It is noted that Mohammed Badie assumed the position of General Guide of the Brotherhood in January 2010, approximately 14 years ago, after being elected by the Brotherhood‘s General Shura Council through a direct secret ballot, succeeding Mohamed Mahdi Akef, the seventh Guide of the Brotherhood (who died in custody in 2017). He was arrested on August 20, 2013, following the dispersal of the Brotherhood‘s supporters’ sit-ins at Rabia al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares in Cairo and Giza, respectively.