Britain is one of most ‘strict’ countries against Brotherhood, says ambassador

Britain is one of the most “strict” countries in dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood, the British Ambassador to Egypt has revealed. John Casson made his comment during a “Question and Answer” session on Twitter on Monday.

Casson was responding to a message from Mahmoud Hummam who said the “suspicious” relationship between Britain and the Muslim Brotherhood is “a poisoned dagger to the Egyptians.”

“Is the Muslim Brotherhood a terror group?” asked Hammam. The ambassador, who is said to be nearing the end of his four-year stay in Cairo, replied that the British government considers a relationship between an individual and the Brotherhood to be “an indication of extremism.”

A second Twitter follower told Casson of his hope that his statement does not cause him problems with British politicians. “You’d have been better staying silent Mr Ambassador,” said a third. “You [Britain] were the first to support the Muslim Brotherhood group,” added Ahmed Shobeikh.

READ: UK MPs ask to visit Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi in prison

In December last year, the British government designated members of the Muslim Brotherhood as “possible extremists” but did not ban the movement.

Egypt’s first democratically-elected President, the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, was toppled by a bloody 2013 military coup led by the incumbent President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Neither Britain nor other Western democracies have ever condemned the takeover as a coup.