In his harshest criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that the outlawed movement poses a threat to Egypt’s security and would isolate the heavyweight country if they came to power, drawing immediate condemnation from the largest opposition group in the country. Mubarak said the rise of the Brotherhood will cause investments to stop and unemployment to rise.
Mubarak’s criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood has immediately drawn fire from the opposition group. “The president is considering that more than 20 percent of parliament members are a threat to Egypt’s security,” Essam el-Erian, a senior Brotherhood leader. The Muslim Brotherhood holds 88 of the 454 seats in the lower house of parliament.
Describing Mubarak’s remarks as “strange”, Erian said that the ruling National Democratic Party would label any party as a danger to security if it felt such a party threatened it control