The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt will refrain from launching a new struggle for power, even though the movement still enjoys wide support, its acting leader said Friday.
The once formidable movement won Egypt's first free presidential election in 2012, but was overthrown in a military coup a year later after mass protests against its rule and has endured a fierce crackdown by authorities since then.
Many of its leaders and thousands of its supporters are in jail or have fled Egypt, and the group has been excluded from a political dialogue to be launched soon by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who was the army chief who deposed the Brotherhood in 2013.
Cairo has designated the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, but acting leader Ibrahim Munir reiterated the group's long-standing rejection of violence.
He also appeared to rule out challenging for power through the ballot box - something the group is unable to do directly while it remains banned in Egypt, although it did field independent candidates in parliamentary elections in the past.
"We completely reject (violence) and we consider it outside the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood - not only the use of violence and arms, but to have a struggle for power in Egypt in any form," Munir told Reuters in an interview.
"We reject the struggle for power even if between political parties through elections organized by the state. This is totally rejected by us."
Munir, 85, who was twice jailed in Egypt in the 1950s and 1960s and has lived in exile for most of the last 40 years, said the Brotherhood had survived difficult times before but was now experiencing the toughest period since it was founded more than 90 years ago.
He said it was not clear how many Brotherhood supporters were in jail in Egypt, though he cited some estimates that put the numbers around 5,000 and 6,000. A Brotherhood official later said Munir meant to say 50,000 or 60,000. Many prisoners, Munir added, had also had their money confiscated.
Egypt's state press center did not respond to a request for comment. Officials deny holding political prisoners and say that security measures taken against the Brotherhood were necessary to stabilize the country.
"Definitely this time is tougher than previous times and previous ordeals," Munir said.
Munir himself took the mantle of acting leader two years ago because the Brotherhood's general guide, or leader, has been in jail since the group lost power in 2013 and his initial successor was then detained in 2020.
Munir acknowledged that the Brotherhood had experienced internal division over how to respond to the crisis and that a new leader would be chosen "when the situation stabilizes."
Within Egypt the movement, which over decades developed a network of charitable organizations, still enjoys the sympathy of many of the country's 102 million people, Munir said.
He said the political dialogue expected to start within weeks between el-Sissi's government and selected opposition groups is not a serious initiative and cannot achieve results if it excludes the Muslim Brotherhood or other figures.
"Dialogue is really needed but it has to include everyone," said Munir.
The chair of the dialogue has said that the Brotherhood could not take part because they had "blood on their hands."
