World Bulletin/News Desk
The main support coalition of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi denied any ongoing internal disagreements following controversial statements by Gamal Heshmat, one of the group's leading members and a spokesman for the Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group.
"The Brotherhood does not make decisions on its own outside of the alliance of which it is an integral pillar," Heshmat told Anadolu Agency.
Earlier this week, Heshmat told AA that the Brotherhood is ready to take a "step backward with the aim of unifying Egypt's revolutionaries and bringing justice to Egyptians who had fallen victim to violence across the country in recent months."
Heshmat's statements were interpreted by some Egyptian media outlets as a deviation from the alliance's enduring refusal to recognize what the group considers a "military coup" against Morsi - the country's first freely elected president who was overthrown by the military last July following protests against his single year in office.
"There are no disagreements within the alliance," stressed Heshmat, who currently lives in Qatar. "It is normal that the alliance [in Cairo] consults and coordinates with some of its leaders abroad."
Egypt has been in the throes of a complex political crisis since the military unseated Morsi. The military-backed authorities has since launched a massive crackdown on the Brotherhood and its supporters, leaving hundreds killed and thousands detained.
Heshmat later clarified his statements, stressing that what he said was not to be understood as an infringement on "popular will," alluding to Morsi's reinstatement.
A Cairo-based alliance leader also denied any internal rifts and said he was satisfied with Heshmat's clarification.
"It has been previously declared that Cairo's leadership of the alliance has the final say after consulting with its figures abroad," Imam Youssef, a leading member in the Salafist Asala Party - a component of the alliance – said in a statement.
"[Heshmat's] clarification removes confusion," Youssef continued.
Prior to Morsi's ouster, the Brotherhood has been the country's most established political group. Following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, the Brotherhood's swept the votes in the string of polls that followed Mubarak's ouster.
Last November, the alliance expressed readiness for dialogue on condition that Morsi returns to power to finish his four-year presidential term, which the Brotherhood refers to as "constitutional legitimacy."
However, observers believe that the possibility of dialogue between the Brotherhood and the interim government, which were already slim, has been abolished with last December's decision by the latter declaring the Brotherhood a "terrorist organization."
Güncelleme Tarihi: 23 Mart 2014, 12:04