Group warns of violence against anti-Brotherhood protesters

The Facebook page of the group calling for "a second revolution on 24 August to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood and its party" warned of violence against demonstrators by Muslim Brotherhood members on Monday.

The statement comes after a controversial fatwa issued by radical Qatar-based cleric Wagdy Ghoneim and statements from the Azhar cleric Sheikh Hashem Islam , both condoning the killing of anti-Brotherhood protesters.

Ghoneim, who is currently residing in Qatar, was sentenced in absentia in January 2011 by the State Security Emergency Court to five years in prison, along with four others, on charges of money laundering and financing the Muslim Brotherhood, then an outlawed organization. He was recently pardoned by Morsy.

Ghoneim said it is legitimate to kill those who would protest Morsy’s rule, just like at Prophet Mohamed’s time, when outsiders (khawarij) to Islam were killed by the prophet’s men.

Islam, a member of the Fatwa (religious edicts) Committee of Egypt's highest Islamic authority, told a seminar on Tuesday at the Diplomats’ Club in Cairo that the people intending to take part in the anticipated protests will be committing “a major treason," and called them bandits, traitors, disobedient to God, His messenger, the nation and all Muslims.

“The 24 August protests are a revolution by ratters against democracy and freedom," he said.

Islam said Quranic verses and the Sunnah oblige people to support the leaders they elected over renegades. He said President Mohamed Morsy was elected in direct, fair elections, the transparency of which was attested to by the whole world.

“Resist them; if they fight you, fight back, if they kill you, you are in paradise, if you kill them, there is no blood money,” he said.

Ghoneim's fatwa and Islam's statements were disparaged by Brotherhood members and political figures from across the spectrum. Azhar authorities distanced themselves from Islam, who later said he did not advocate violence, only self defense. 

The 24 August group's statement  urged the President to immediately act against the "terrorist" fatwas and to refer the people who issued them to trial. It also called upon Morsy to clearly state that he adopts the right for peaceful demonstration and that he will face anyone who attacks demonstrators.

The silence of the President "portends a deficiency to act and the probability of threats from saboteurs." The statement said the group is not against President Morsy, but against "militias and armed gangs" that publicly announced its presence among the Brotherhood leaderships.

Page administrator Ayman Yakoub said the group hadinvited the Brotherhood to dialogue, but they have not yet responded.