The Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday defended itself against claims that it made a deal with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
"After the glorious revolution, Egypt will not accept any deals or make any agreements that detract from the people’s sovereignty, or impose a trusteeship over… absolute freedom," according to a statement issued by the Brotherhood on Tuesday.
The statement went on to say that "the Brotherhood declares its total rejection of any such deals and stresses Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie’s statement that no deals were made except between God and the people."
"The Brotherhood realizes the value of the peoples’ trust in us and our movement will never betray that trust.”
Egyptian news reports recently reported that the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) had made a deal with the SCAF after a leading Brotherhood figure issued a statement saying it may consider the possibility of granting the SCAF immunity from prosecution.
Last week, Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghazlan, in a phone interview with al-Haqiqa talk show on Dream satellite channel, said that the group might okay immunity from legal and criminal accountability for SCAF members if other political forces agreed to such an arrangement. Ghazlan later retreated from some of his statements regarding his group’s willingness to offer amnesty to those alleged of killing protesters in return for blood money.
Activists accuse army forces of killing demonstrators during clashes in recent months.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing has backed down from demands that Egypt’s new parliament be granted the right to replace the military-appointed government sometime soon, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The paper quoted FJP Secretary General Mohamed Saad al-Katatny as saying that the party wants to avoid conflict until the legislature is seated on 23 January.
His comments, made in an interview with the Washington Post, are likely to further enrage activists who accuse the Brotherhood of forging a tacit alliance with Egypt’s military rulers and betraying fellow revolutionaries for political gain, the paper said.
