Cameron shows Brotherhood yellow card but won't ban group

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday ruled out banning Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood but said the group had a “highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism” and was “deliberately opaque.”
Membership or having links to the radical organization, which is an opposition force in Egypt and has a base in London, should be considered a “possible indicator of extremism,” Cameron said.
His written statement contained the main findings of a review into the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities whose publication has been delayed for months.
Cameron said the government would “keep under review whether the views and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood meet the legal test for proscription.”
“Parts of the Muslim Brotherhood have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism,” he said, describing the group as “deliberately opaque and habitually secretive.”
“Both as an ideology and as a network it has been a rite of passage for some individuals and groups who have gone on to engage in violence and terrorism.”
In a statement, the head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s foreign relations desk, Yehia Hamed, dismissed the review, saying it had not been given the chance to respond to it.
“We do not accept that these conclusions can be based on credible evidence,” Hamed said.
“It is now clear that the Prime Minister did not intend to carry out a fair review into the Muslim Brotherhood.”
A London-based lawyer for the organization said that it would challenge “the process of the review and its findings in court.”