Tamarod mulls political party

In order to avoid the pitfalls of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Tamarod movement is considering forming a political party, according to its co-founder Mahmoud Badr, Al-Ahram reported.

Last week, a Cairo administrative court ruling officially banned the Muslim Brotherhood, its activities, its subsidiary organizations and any organizations it funds. It has operated illegally for most of its 85-year history, only gaining legal NGO status on March 19, 2012.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti Al-Watan newspaper, Badr said the Brotherhood was not legal and was always criticized for operating outside the law.

Badr said Tamarod doesn’t want to meet the same fate.

He added that he hopes the Brotherhood will practice proper politics and the fruit of their work will ultimately be the judge.

He said that they had been subjected to political isolation by the ruling regime throughout their history, but that this time their isolation is by popular demand.  

“They wanted to Brotherhoodize the state but the people came out to Egyptianize the group,” he was quoted as saying. “The group needs to realize the people’s message and come back with a true political and peaceful agenda.”

Tamarod quickly gained popular support when it started collecting millions of signatures to demand the resignation of former President Mohamed Morsi earlier this year.