Muslim Brotherhood submits political party's legal documents

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has submitted legal documents to the Party Affairs Committee at the Court of Cassation in Cairo for approval of the group’s new political party.

Called the Freedom and Justice Party, its Director General, Saad El-Katatni, said that it has almost 9,000 founding members, including just under a thousand women and 93 Christians. He added that Dr. Rafil Habib, a Coptic Protestant Evangelical Christian, has been chosen as the party’s Vice-President. “The presence of Copts among the party’s founders shows that the Muslim Brotherhood does what it says it will do, and that our Coptic brothers are partners in the nation,” said Mr Katatni.

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The Director General also confirmed that the new party’s structures in Egypt’s governorates will be formed within a month; the names of the founders will be published in two daily newspapers which have wide circulation.

According to Mr Katatni, the Freedom and Justice Party was born strong and has been supported by the experience available to the Muslim Brotherhood. He rejected the description of the party as “a religious party”, but noted that its frame of reference will be Islam’s Shari’ah Law, in line with Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution.