UK Government to publish UK Review on Muslim Brotherhood following “deeply flawed process”

The British government has confirmed to the Muslim Brotherhood’s lawyers that it intends to publish summary findings of the prime minister’s Review into the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday.

The Review was announced by David Cameron in April 2014 with the Panel’s report scheduled to be published in July of the same year. The former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, was appointed by the prime minister to lead the review.

The timing of the prime minister’s announcement was met with surprise by many commentators as Egypt had recently seen the violent overthrow of its democratically elected President and the killing and illegal detention of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters by the military.

In April 2014 the Muslim Brotherhood stated in response to the prime minister’s announcement that it would freely and openly engage with Sir John Jenkins. The organisation instructed leading human rights law firm, ITN Solicitors and former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald QC to advise and represent it during the Review process. This was followed by the submission of a detailed written submission to the review panel and high level meetings between Sir John Jenkins and senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood across the world.

Despite the open engagement between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Review panel the government failed to publish its report in July as originally scheduled. This initial delay was followed by reports that the Review had been commissioned following pressure from Gulf States and Egypt to ban the Muslim Brotherhood. By October 2014 it was suggested that the reason for the delay was that Sir John’s report had concluded that there was “No evidence of links between the Muslim Brotherhood and acts of terrorism” and government officials had been concerned over the reports potential for alienating its allies in the Gulf.

The delay and reports of undue influence led ITN Solicitors to enter into correspondence with the Government Legal Department (GLD), who represent the prime minister’s office, in respect of how the Review was being conducted. ITN solicitors on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood made strong representations that their client had the right to reply to any criticism in the report prior to its publication and to notice of the intended date of its publication. Following a last minute intervention by the Prime Minister in March preventing the report’s release it was announced that it would again be delayed and published later along with the government’s counter extremism strategy. ITN wrote to the GLD explaining that the government’s conflation of their client with the counter extremism strategy would be unlawful and subject to judicial review challenge.

ITN Solicitors made further representations to the GLD in respect of their client’s right to reply and reasonable notice. A series of clear assurances, as recently as mid-November, were provided by the GLD to ITN Solicitors that the report would not be released until the government made its position clear on the Muslim Brotherhood’s right to reply.

In November The Guardian published reports which suggested that the commissioning of the government’s review into the Muslim Brotherhood had in fact been influenced by foreign governments hostile to the rise of democracy in the Middle East. The reports revealed that the United Arab Emirates were behind the government’s decision to conduct a review and they were ‘raising a red flag’ to the UK’s indifference to the MB. The Guardian’s report revealed that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was briefed to complain to the prime minister about the Muslim Brotherhood in 2012 when one of its leading members, Mohamed Morsi, became the first democratically elected president of Egypt. In documents reportedly seen by The Guardian, the UAE offered Cameron lucrative arms and oil deals which would have generated billions of pounds for BAE Systems and allowed BP to bid to drill for hydrocarbons in the Gulf.

The government’s conduct and the serious allegations of undue foreign pressure on the British government in respect of the UK Review was of such concern that the Muslim Brotherhood instructed their lawyers to bring the alleged conduct to the attention of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

A letter addressed to the committee’s chair, Crispin Blunt MP, stated “We are gravely concerned that the Review, to which our clients have been subject now for so many months, may not have been prompted by any real security concerns but was announced simply in an attempt to appease allies in the Gulf and to secure the future of arms deals”. It went on to say “you will be aware of widespread reports that Sir John Jenkins has concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood represents no real security threat in this country, and the prime minister’s announcement on the conclusion of the Review has been repeatedly delayed as a result”. The letter requested that the Foreign Affairs Committee hold an inquiry “into the circumstances in which the UK government came to announce a Review into the Muslim Brotherhood”.

On 12 November Mr Blunt’s office responded to the letter stating “he [Blunt] intends to run an inquiry into the government’s position towards political Islam which will cover many of the issues you have addressed in your letter” and the lawyers were invited to make a formal written submission when the “official inquiry opens”.

Today [16 December 2015] ITN Solicitors were informed by journalists that the report was to be made public on Thursday. On enquiring with the GLD it became clear that Downing Street’s lawyers had not been informed of the prime minister’s intention to publish the report the next day.

Later the government’s lawyers informed ITN that “a final decision on publication has now been taken and a motion has been tabled in Parliament that the main findings of the Muslim Brotherhood Review be published tomorrow [Thursday] in Parliament”. The publication of the report in parliament would frustrate any High Court application to obtain an injunction preventing its release until the Muslim Brotherhood had been afforded the right to reply “as the courts will not grant injunctions to prevent a Member of Parliament from speaking or passing information to Parliament”.

Tayab Ali of ITN Solicitors who advises the Muslim Brotherhood said “My client is very disappointed about the way the government has conducted this review. The Muslim Brotherhood openly engaged with the British government’s review and it is a travesty that this was not reciprocated. It is more important now than ever for Western democratic governments to support those groups and organisations in the Middle East that support, promote and engage in the democratic process. Failing to support non-violent democratic groups only serves to fuel the efforts of those that resort to violence to achieve their goals. We remain concerned that there may be errors or misconceptions in the report given what we now know of the influence of governments hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood on this review, especially since our client has not been given the opportunity to comment on the report. My client will challenge in Court any unfair criticism that emanates from the report following this deeply flawed process”.

ITN solicitors are a leading Human Rights law firm based in London. Further details at www.itnsolicitors.com. You can contact Ravi Naik at ITN Solicitors, via email: [email protected] or telephone: 020 8522 7707.