Shock Report: Muslim Brotherhood 'Crucifies' Opponents on Trees in Front of Presidential Palace

As the Muslim Brotherhood continues to solidify its ever-expanding power in Egypt, several Arabic news agencies -- including Arab News, Al Khabar News, Dostor Watany and Egypt Now -- are reporting that opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood were "crucified" in Egypt last week, the Algemeiner reports.

While we can't independently verify the accuracy of the various reports, crucifixion would signal a significant shift in tactics in the way the Muslim Brotherhood deals with opponents.

The Algemeiner provides a translation of an excerpt of one relevant report:

A Sky News Arabic correspondent in Cairo confirmed that protestors belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others. Likewise, Muslim Brotherhood supporters locked the doors of the media production facilities of 6-October [a major media region in Cairo], where they proceeded to attack several popular journalists.

Raymond Ibrahim, a fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum, says the escalation is the product of what the media in the Middle East call "partisans."

"Arabic media call them 'supporters,' 'followers,' and 'partisans' of the Muslim Brotherhood," Ibraham said, adding that the "partisans" will not discriminate and both Egyptians and Christians may be targeted.

"It’s anyone who is resisting the new government," Ibrahim added. "In this particular case, the people attacked and crucified were secular protesters upset because of Morsi’s hostile campaign against the media, especially of Tawfik Okasha, who was constantly exposing him on his station, until Morsi shut him down."

The Algemeiner has more details:

Last Wednesday, August 8, “thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters” attacked 6-October’s media facilities, beat Khaled Salah—chief editor of the privately-owned and secular Youm 7 newspaper—prevented Yusif al-Hassani, an On TV broadcaster, from entering the building, and generally “terrorized the employees.”

El Balad adds that the supporters of Tawfik Okasha, another vocal critic of President Morsi—the one who widely disseminated the graphic video of a Muslim apostate being slaughtered to cries of “Allahu Akbar”—gathered around the presidential palace, only to be surrounded by Brotherhood supporters, who “attacked them with sticks, knives, and Molotov cocktails, crucifying some of them on trees, leading to the deaths of two and the wounding of dozens.”

Far from condemning these terrorists, Al Azhar, Egypt’s most authoritative Islamic institution, has just issued a fatwa calling for more violence and oppression, saying that “fighting participants in anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations planned for 24 August is a religious obligation.”

Most of the aforementioned Arabic sites point out that these attacks are part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s campaign to intimidate and thus censor Egypt’s secular media from exposing the group’s Islamist agenda, which Youm 7, On TV, and Okasha do daily. [Note: the latter's channel was recently shut down, despite Morsi's previous reassurances that "no station or media will be shut down in my era."]

These threats are not new; back in April, an organization called the “Jihad Group to Cleanse the Country” threatened these media with “painful and severe punishments.” Apparently now that Morsi has become master of Egypt, threats are becoming reality, just as promises are being broken.

And the threats are taking their toll. Sky News, which was first to report about the crucifixions, has taken down its original article (though the URL still appears in the address box with the Arabic words “protesters-crucified-in front of-egypt’s-presidential-palace”).

While one may argue that Sky News removed the article because it was found false, one can equally argue that it censored itself for fear that it would be next in the terror campaign against the media.

Additionally, "Militant Muslims crucifying their opponents is a regular feature of the Islamic world--recent cases coming form the Ivory Coast, where two Christian brothers were crucified, similarly by supporters of a Muslim president who ousted a Christian; Indonesia, where Islamic separatists crucified a fellow Muslim for being a military informant; and in Iraq, where Muslim militants crucified Christian children."

According to Koran, crucifixion is proper punishment for anyone who "makes mischief in the land."

"The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off…" (Koran 5:33).

It may also be important to note that an Egyptian MP recently proposed to institutionalize Sharia’s most brutal punishments— including crucifixion.

"In short, under the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the bottle has been uncorked and the Islamic Genie set loose. Expect much worse to come," Ibrahim concludes.