The Brotherhood’s crackdown on the judiciary and the media

Insults, threats, exclusion, and political violations have become the main traits of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule despite the limited time they have spent in power. They confirmed all what was said about their fascism through attempting to monopolize power, backtracking on their promises, and acting indifferently in the hardest of times. In an interview with Time magazine, President Mohamed Mursi talked about how infatuated he is with the West and its films and societies, his determination to respect the constitution, his commitment to peace with Israel. In the meantime, his people were launching a severe campaign against Egyptian opposition parties and media outlets that criticize their policies. A week after Mursi described protestors surrounding the Interior Ministry building as “thugs,” members of the Muslim Brotherhood blocked the entrance to the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The crisis in Egypt is at a crossroads, some of which are bumpy and others are very dangerous. The country will never be able to escape the bleak destiny awaiting it unless Mursi decides to be the president of all Egyptians through revoking the Constitutional Declaration in which he undermined the independence of the judiciary and gave himself absolute powers. His supporters are, on fact, not ashamed to compare him to a Caliph to justify that he has to have the final say.

The Muslim Brotherhood made it obvious to the entire world that they are not to be trusted and that they are greedy for power. They have forgotten that they spent 80 years in futile attempts to share power, but not one single Egyptian ruler gave them this chance to be part of the political scene. It was only when those youths stormed Tahrir Square and toppled Mubarak’s regime in the January 25 Revolution that they were able to reap the fruits of this victory.

Now they are in control of the presidency, the government, and the Consultative Assembly. All these positions did not satisfy their hunger, so they decided to write a constitution that suits them and targeted the judiciary because it did not cater to their needs. Members of the Constituent Assembly, in charge of writing the constitution, decided to express their gratitude for the president who appointed them (the assembly is 90% Brotherhood and Salafis) through granting him unlimited powers including control over the judiciary, which will be the gate to ratifying their laws and sanctioning their violations as well as channeling the electoral process in their favor. What the ousted Egyptian president had tried to do in 30 years Mursi dared to do in 30 minutes. He dismissed the prosecutor general to replace him with a Brotherhood member, treated judges as mere employees, and made sure the constitution placed him above the judiciary.

As for the media, the journey is much longer and more arduous. The media cannot be handled with presidential decrees and constitution articles. That is why they started accusing journalists and media professionals of apostasy and debauchery and threatened retaliation. Because they have always been in the opposition, members of the Brotherhood are not aware that it is impossible to curb the freedom of the media today. Mubarak had for years tried to do the same and failed then finally gave up. The Brotherhood will soon discover that antagonizing the media will cost them all the support and popularity they have garnered before.

(Abdul Rahman al-Rashed is the General Manager of Al Arabiya. The article first appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat on Dec. 3, 2012)