Egypt looks to Arab League to support its ‘terrorist’ ruling on MB

The Arab League has notified all Arab countries of Egypt’s decision to consider the banned Muslim Brotherhood a “terrorist group,” the Cairo-based organization announced Monday.

The general secretariat of the Arab League said it had received a formal note from Egypt’s permanent delegate officially announcing the December 25 decision by the Egyptian Cabinet.

Egypt said its ruling on the Muslim Brotherhood is in line with the 1998 Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism and the 2012 Arab Convention for the Fight Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

The general secretariat of the Arab League said the formal note has been circulated to all Arab League member states.

Nabil al-Arabi, secretary general of the Arab League, discussed the matter with Egypt’s foreign affairs minister, Nabil Fahmy, at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo Thursday.

Arabi said that each country is free to determine how it will respond to Egypt’s decision. Several Arab League member states, including Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Libya and Tunisia, have said that Egypt’s classification of the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist group” is a domestic, rather than regional, issue.

Egypt’s decision came after a series of terrorist attacks, including the December 24 car bombing in Mansoura, in which 16 people were killed. The Muslim Brotherhood has denied any involvement in the blast. The Sinai-based jihadi group Ansar Beit al-Maqdes claimed responsibility for the attack.