The Muslim Council of Britain on 15 August urged the British government to condemn the Egyptian coup leaders for the brutal massacre of civilians that took place in Cairo on 14 August. While it is commendable for the Foreign Secretary to condemn the violence, the government must censure, in the strongest possible terms, the perpetrators for this shocking violence. The dead includes men, women and children: unarmed protestors, and those reporting on the massacre, including a British national working for Sky News.
“Many British Muslim Egyptians will have family who are affected by this violence, and it is crucial for our government to step up the pressure on those who deposed Egypt’s first democratically elected leader. We need a forceful response from our government, just as it would respond to any regime that has seized power and killed and imprisoned the people they have deposed,” the MCB statement said.
It added, “In a speech delivered in Munich in 2011, the British Prime Minister set a litmus test for those who shared our values and aspirations: these include democracy, the right for people to elect their own government and universal human rights. It is time for our government to apply this test rigorously for those seeking British aid and British patronage. The current Egyptian government does not, and we owe it to the victims of the massacre to condemn the leaders of the Egyptian coup in the strongest possible terms.
“These are grave times for Egypt and the rest of the region. The promise of freedom is now giving way to a new-found authoritarianism which will embolden once again extremists on all sides. Accordingly, we also condemn reported attacks on Coptic Christians and other minorities in Egypt. Such retaliatory attacks serves to strengthen the hands of the coup leaders and the former Egyptian dictatorship who themselves stoked sectarianism to keep themselves in power.
“May Allah bring peace to the people of Egypt and the Middle East, and may the souls departed find just recompense in this world, or the next.”