Reform Initiatives In the Arab World (2004)

Muslim Brothers Initiative

Cairo, 13 January 2004

The Muslim Brotherhood initiative was launched in a press conference held by the brotherhood on March 4th, 2004 at the headquarters of the Journalists Syndicate in Cairo. The initiative included, empowering the Egyptian citizenry through personal development; instituting political and electoral reforms; and reforming the judiciary system. The Brothers initiative called for the following:

To honour the rights of the individual to political participation, abide by the circulation of power through free and honest voting with emphasis on granting the freedom of religious rituals for all recognized divine religions.
The freedom of forming political parties, convening mass meetings, and assembling peaceful demonstrations.
To honour the independence of the judiciary system in all its stages and to modify laws in order to conform to Islamic jurisprudence.
To cease army intervention in political life in order to focus its efforts on defending the state security. In that context, the army should not be exploited by the ruling authority as a tool to impose its dominance and restrict public freedoms.
The initiative called for limiting the scope of presidents authority in a manner that does not allow him to head any political party or assume any executive responsibility. The initiative called for scraping the so-called ill-reputed laws, which include emergency law, press law and other regulations that restrict freedom. Moreover, previous verdicts issued by the military and judicial courts should be revisited.
It also called for modifying and purifying all existing laws and regulations in a manner that conforms to Islamic Sharia Law.
The initiative also tackled the issue of Copts, stating that they should enjoy all rights granted to every Egyptian citizen; they should have the right to freely practice their religious rituals.

Brotherhoods perception on Greater Middle East
Although the Brothers initiative did not specifically refer to its position towards the Greater Middle East Project, the Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood Mahdi Akef commented that they would confront any foreign initiatives that aim to impose American dominance. He added the Brotherhood unequivocally rejects such a project since American democracy is nothing more than a democracy of slaughter illustrated in practices in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Muslim Brothers reform initiative was severely criticized by the Egyptian Minister of Interior Habib El Adli who commented that the initiative was unacceptable since it has been introduced by a banned organization. He added, to government insiders, the Brotherhood initiatives seemed to be an opportunistic way of capitalizing on US president Bushs Administrations initiatives.
However, Prominent Journalist Salama Ahmed Salam believed that the Minister of Interior does not have the right to object the brotherhood initiatives. He also blamed the press syndicate, which attempted to clean its hands from the event of hosting the brotherhoods conference by declaring the event as an administrative glitch.