On June 30… Which countries have classified the Muslim Brotherhood as a “Terrorist Organization”?
The anniversary of June 30 has brought back discussions about the significant losses suffered by the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood in many countries around the world, which hastened to classify it as a “terrorist organization”, following the lead of the Russian Federation, one of the first countries to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
According to a decision by the Russian Federal Security Service, the terrorist group was providing financial support to elements carrying out violent acts against Russian forces, as reported by the newspaper “Al Watan” in a journalistic report. The decision pointed out that “this group relies on violence as a clear method of its behavior in society”. Kazakhstan also placed the group on its list of terrorist organizations, and under this decision, Kazakhstan banned leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood from being present on Kazakh territory.
With overwhelming majority, the Canadian Parliament approved the listing of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in April 2014, in response to a petition filed by the Egyptian community in Canada calling for the banning of the group’s activities. At the time, Canadian Liberal Party member Sherif Sabawy stated that the Canadian Parliament overwhelmingly voted to list the Muslim Brotherhood alongside organizations such as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS.
In 2021, Austria became the first European country to ban the Muslim Brotherhood organization and place its leaders on the “blacklist”, prohibiting them from engaging in any political activities, as part of a package of measures to combat terrorism. The Austrian National Council passed an anti-terrorism and extremism law aimed at banning the activities of terrorist organizations and prosecuting their financiers, by tightening sanctions and facilitating the monitoring of hate speech and religious extremism, as well as the exploitation of Internet networks for such purposes.
Last year, Paraguay joined the list of countries classifying the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist organization”, threatening international security and stability, and constituting a serious and clear violation of United Nations principles. The Paraguayan Parliament stated in a statement published on its official website that “the Muslim Brotherhood provides support to those who use violence, threatening stability and security in both the East and the West”, which Paraguay categorically rejects for all forms and acts of violence.
In 2016, several members of the Republican Party in the US Congress led a campaign to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, securing a majority vote with 17 votes against 10 members. In November 2016, the Gulf Cooperation Council announced a unified list of terrorist organizations approved by the heads of state of the Council’s member states, including “the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, the Uzbek Islamic Movement, and the Pakistani Taliban Movement”.
Last year, the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood received a significant blow from the Republic of Comoros, which considered the group as a “terrorist entity”, according to an official statement from the Ministry of the Interior issued on February 9.
