Mursi detained; accused of Collaborating with Hamas

As Hosni Mubarak’s reign in Egypt was in its last days in late January of 2011, Mohammed Mursi was arrested and detained along with several other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Two days later, their was a jail break. Mursi was one of the prisoners who was freed. At the time, Reuters reported that “relatives of prisoners overcame the guards, a Brotherhood official said.”

Relatives, huh? Let’s see, what group might the relatives of Muslim Brotherhood leaders belong to?

Hamas perhaps?

That leads us to a report that Mursi is now being detained and investigated on charges that he collaborated with Hamas in that jail break.

Via Ahram Online:

Morsi is accused of collaborating with Hamas to escape, along with other political prisoners, from Wadi El-Natroun Prison and destroy prison records during the 2011 uprising; collaborating with Hamas to attack police stations during the uprising; the intentional killing and abduction of police officers and prisoners during the uprising, and espionage.

The alleged crimes are being investigated by a Cairo court that was tasked with determining how inmates – including Mohamed Morsi and other senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood – escaped from prison in late January 2011 during the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Mursi and Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh (Muslim Brothers)

Mursi and Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh (Muslim Brothers)

According to a report by the U.K. Guardian shortly after the prison break, several inmates were killed in shootouts with Hamas relatives of prisoners armed gangs. The breakouts didn’t just happen at one jail, either. These attacks occurred at four jails. Note what the Guardian said about the attackers:

Armed gangs took advantage of the chaos in Cairo and other cities to free the prisoners, starting fires and engaging prison guards in gun battles, officials said. Several inmates were reportedly killed during the fighting and some were recaptured.

Some relatives, huh?

Well, let’s see. The name of the group is the Muslim Brotherhood so, technically speaking, members of Hamas would be relatives.

The U.S. State Department still has Hamas listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). If Mursi is found to have collaborated with Hamas in 2011, what will it say about State Department spokesman Jen Psaki’s call for Mursi’s release earlier this month? She also referred to the “politically motivated, arbitrary arrests of… Muslim Brotherhood members”. Detaining someone for collaborating with a group designated by the U.S. State Department as an FTO doesn’t sound all that arbitrary:


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