El-Sayed under fire for once signing letter urging Egypts Muslim Brotherhood to purge media and police
WASHINGTON — Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed once signed a letter urging the then-newly crowned president of Egypt, a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, to “purge” the media and police.The controversial progressive signed the letter to Mohamed Morsi in 2012 — just before Morsi’s government embarked on a cruel crackdown on journalists in Egypt, targeting at least half a dozen for “insulting Islam” and “insulting the president,” ultimately culminating in backlash and a coup.The Michigan hopeful now insists he disavows the Muslim Brotherhood, notorious for its radical offshoots, despite “Dr.Abdul Rahman El-Sayed” being the 33rd signature on the 2012 letter, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.“We, leaders of the Egyptian community, support the revolutionary decisions taken by the president, and we call on him to purge the media and the police as quickly as possible,” the letter said, per a translation from Arabic.“We affirm, as Egyptian Americans, that we strongly reject those voices that are courting America and Europe to take a position against the Egyptian regime.”Days before the letter, Morsi, who was Egypt’s first elected leader at the time, issued a decree to bestow sweeping new powers on himself as unrest rocked the country.
Egypt had been rocked by the Arab Spring the prior year, which culminated in strongman Hosni Mubarak’s resignation.Morsi used his power grab to order a retrial of Mubarak amid frustrations from supporters that the ousted strongman and his allies didn’t get a tougher punishment.Amid fears that Morsi’s power grab would turn him into a strongman, which sparked mass protests across Egypt, then-general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi carried out a coup.
El-Sisi remains in power to this day, though he recently announced plans to conclude his term in 2030.The letter El-Sayed signed was published on Egyptian news site Al-Ahram Gate.El-Sayed’s parents were Egyptian immigrants.
In a 2011 article for the H...