CAIRO — For the first time since the ousting of Egypt’s late Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood announced that it would no longer seek to claim power should the regime of current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fall. In a very controversial statement, the organization announced that it will stop any political activity in the country and allow its members to engage in political action through other parties.
The organization’s statement, published on its official website June 29, revealed the Brotherhood’s new strategy in the coming period, based on coordination with leftist and liberal political forces inside Egypt, in a bid to free prisoners of conscience and overthrow Sisi's regime. This sparked controversy given the group’s history and its views on democracy as an alien system from the West.
