In September 2020, it was announced that the UK-based Ibrahim Mounir had been appointed as the acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (EMB) – the most senior figure in the organisation. In the month following the announcement, the Qatari Arabi21 Arabic language portal reported that Mounir had addressed a letter to President Emmanuel Macron, in which he denounced the latter’s suggestion that Islam is in crisis. Mounir further claimed that Macron had been wrong to identify the Brotherhood with isolationism, radicalism and puritanism. And he objected to Macron’s assertion that the Muslim Brotherhood used religion for political ends, was attempting to establish a parallel order, or rejected the French republic.
According to reports in Arabi21 and the UK-based pro-Islamist news site Middle East Monitor (MEMO), Mounir assured President Macron, the French people, and all peoples, that the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology was rooted solely in the Islamic religion. Mounir asserted that the Muslim Brotherhood had challenged those regimes which deliberately pushed Muslims to abandon their faith, by what he described as unlawful and inhumane transgressions. The Muslim Brotherhood, said Mounir, “upholds the social responsibilities and rights of the countries of their abode. They respect their laws; knowing that this is the basis of their presence therein. They fulfil their duties and protect the security of their countries”.[1]
According to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Ikhwan Wiki, a semi-official website run by Brotherhood members, Ibrahim Mounir was born in Egypt in 1937. In 1965, he was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour, having been arrested alongside many other Brotherhood members in the context of President Gamal Abd al-Nasser’s crackdown on the organisation at that time. In July 2012, Mounir received a pardon from then President Mohamed Morsi (himself a member of the Brotherhood). [2] Previous press reports from 2014 refer to Mounir’s role at the Muslim Brotherhood’s UK media office,[3] based in Cricklewood, north-west London, which houses the “World Media Service”.[4] Mounir was also described as having acted as supervisor of the Brotherhood’s London publication Risalat Al-Ikhwan,[5] which is connected to the same Cricklewood post code as Ikhwanpress.com.[6]
Ikhwan Wiki lists Ibrahim Mounir’s current roles as:
- Member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau (the group’s senior leadership body);
- General-Secretary of the Muslim Brotherhood’s International Organisation;
- Spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe;
- General Supervisor of the UK-based Muslim Brotherhood’s weekly bulletin Risalat Al-Ikhwan (com);
- One of the founders of the London-based Islamic Unity Forum (IUF) (http://islamicunity.uk).
According to Al-Jazeera, Ibrahim Mounir has been living in London since the late 1980s.[7] A further report published by Al-Jazeera, following the recent announcement about his appointment as General Guide, describes Mounir as one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s most significant voices in the international arena since 2013 (when current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in his then capacity as Defence Minister, intervened to remove Morsi from power in a popularly-backed coup).[8] The same report also noted that two years ago, Mounir was amongst those who spoke during a dedicated hearing on the Muslim Brotherhood hosted in the House of Commons.[9]
[1] https://arabi21.com/story/1305268/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AB-%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%87%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7; https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201006-macrons-anti-islam-remark-against-principals-of-french-revolution-says-brotherhood-leader/.
[2] https://www.ikhwanwiki.com/index.php?title=إبراهيم_منير
[3]https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2014/01/14/Egypt-s-Brotherhood-fights-back-from-London-flat-, https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/muslim-brotherhood-its-uk-connections-and-media-attacks-on-the-uae-1.264699
[4] https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02811962
[5] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/10567230/Egypts-Muslim-Brotherhood-launches-fightback-from-Cricklewood-flat.html,
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/muslim-brotherhood-plotting-return-to-power-from-a-shop-in-cricklewood-9058424.html, https://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=2791
[6] http://www.ikhwanpress.com/contactus.htm
[7] https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/2/15/what-happened-to-egypts-muslim-brotherhood/
https://www.aljazeera.net/news/politics/2020/9/15/مسؤول-الإخوان-إبراهيم-منير-وجه [8]
[9] https://www.aljazeera.net/news/politics/2020/9/15/مسؤول-الإخوان-إبراهيم-منير-وجه