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Remorseful? Read the Muslim Brotherhood's Statement on the Embassy Attacks
Symbol for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Remorseful? Read the Muslim Brotherhood's Statement on the Embassy Attacks

"The film is certainly a blatant violation of religious sanctities, international norms and conventions on human rights which emphasize that freedom of expression with respect to religion [and] must be restricted by controls within the law..."

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood released a statement Wednesday regarding the massive protests at its U.S. Embassy on September 11, and the anti-Islam movie that allegedly sparked them.

Though the United States has been surprisingly supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood since it took power after the fall of former leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the organization is spending far more time criticizing the film and encouraging more protests, than trying to calm the fires.

The statement, made by the Brotherhood's political arm called the "Freedom and Justice Party," partially reads:

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) expresses strong condemnation of the film produced and promoted by US Coptic Christian individuals, which deals serious insults to the Prophet Mohammed.

The party considers the film a racist crime and a failed attempt to provoke sectarian strife between the two elements of the nation: Muslims and Christians.

Moreover, the FJP considers this movie totally unacceptable, from the moral and religious perspectives, and finds that it excessively goes far beyond all reasonable boundaries of the freedoms of opinion and expression.

The film is certainly a blatant violation of religious sanctities, international norms and conventions on human rights which emphasize that freedom of expression with respect to religion [and] must be restricted by controls within the law that safeguard public interest, in order to protect lives, morals, rights and freedoms.  [Emphasis added]

The closest the statement comes to condemning the violence is:

The FJP appeals to wise and honorable people of this country, especially the clergy in both Al-Azhar and the Church, as well as media professionals, to work hard to avoid sedition, and to expose those who instigated it, and to urgently bring them to trial, on charges of insulting heavenly religions, so that such acts are not repeated ever again.

Up until roughly 9 a.m. Eastern Time, the Muslim Brotherhood's official Twitter account had re-tweeted a post about how "insulting" and "disgusting" the film was, but still made no statement of regret regarding the attack on the embassy.

"Any insulting and disgusting attitude such as this movie is not acceptable for any respectable person," the tweet read.

After the horrifying news of the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya, where the ambassador and several others were tragically killed, the Muslim Brotherhood finally released a statement of sympathy.

"We strongly condemn deadly attack on US Emb in Benghazi & tragic loss of lives. We urge restraint as ppl peacefully protest & express anger," they write.

The comment is a thinly veiled attempt to play both sides.  While the Brotherhood is condemning the attacks in Libya and "urging restraint," they are urging restraint as people continue to "express anger."

Not only that, but the Muslim Brotherhood's Secretary General Mahmud Hussein explicitly called for more protests on Friday "outside all the main mosques in all of Egypt’s provinces."

The purpose, he said, is "to denounce offenses to religion and to the Prophet," Al Arabiya relates.

“Islam does not censor opinions, but refuses the freedom to violate the beliefs of faith,” said a statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments in response to the crisis.

UPDATE:

Via The New York Times:

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, the mainstream Islamist group and the sponsor of Egypt’s first elected president, Mohamed Morsi, urged the United States government on Tuesday to prosecute the “madmen” behind the video, according to the English-language Web site of the state newspaper, Al Ahram.

The spokesman asked for a formal apology from the United States government and warned that events like the video were damaging Washington’s relations with the Muslim world. He also emphasized that any protests should remain peaceful and respect property.

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