The Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau gave strict instructions to all the leaders of the group and the Freedom and Justice Party not to make any press statements or comments on social networking sites that could provoke the public.
“Only the supreme guide and his deputies may speak for the group,” said Brotherhood Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein. “Anyone else would be speaking for himself.”
Farid Ismail, the party secretary in Sharqiya, said such statements are used to attack the party and the group. “We must stand with the political forces and the street,” he said.
A post that Essam al-Erian, a leader of the FJP, made on Twitter on August in which he accused leftist parties of receiving funds from abroad, submitting to foreign powers and ignoring the role of religion in society sparked an angry response on Facebook and Twitter.
Toqadom al-Khateeb, a member of the National Association for Change, called for Erian to be brought to trial for accusing the left of “defaming religion,” adding that Erian’s statements constitute a clear accusation of atheism and calling for the trial of that “ignorant liar.”
The group is currently evaluating the performance of the governors and other officials and classifying them as “corrupt” or “honest” in order to ask President Mohamed Morsy to replace them, the sources said.
“The names of those who should be replaced will be announced in two weeks,” said Amr Zaky, assistant party secretary general.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
