USA classifies parts of Muslim Brotherhood as terror (organizations)
Caption: Swedish Institute in Alexandria
Yesterday, the US State and Treasury Department secretaries decided to outlaw parts of the Muslim Brotherhood. The decision is designed in such a way that will very likely affect the Swedish delegation and the Swedish Institute in Amman, Jordan. Both Swedish authorities have a long history together with the Muslim Brotherhood as enablers, financiers, and support organisations.
Yesterday, the respective US State and Treasury secretaries, Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, decided to follow through on President Donald Trump's statement on outlawing parts of the Muslim Brotherhood. The decision (is) to eliminate the capabilities and operations within the Muslim Brotherhood's branches or network that pose a threat against the US, according to an earlier Executive Order (14362).
Yesterday's decision means that the US is designating the Lebanese, Jordanian, and Egyptian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terror organisations.
The American State Department is designating the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terror organization and a specially designated global terror organization (SDGT. The group's leader, Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh, is also designated as an SDGT.
At the same time, the Treasury Department is designating the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood as SDGTs for having given material support to Hamas. The US states it will use all available means to deprive the Muslim Brotherhood branches of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.
The Brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt as an Islamist movement that promoted social reforms through political activism. Since 2013, the Brotherhood has been banned and designated as a terrorist group in countries like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The US earlier hesitated to classify the Brotherhood as a terrorist group despite considering it in 2019.
The terror designation will enable the freezing of assets, travel bans, and sanctions against leaders like Lebanon's Taqqosh, and can potentially expand to other global networks. The designation means that the US is also open (to the possibility of) imposing sanctions against third parties who, one way or another, give support to the Muslim Brotherhood's associated organisations in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt.
It cannot be ruled out that the sanctions will affect Sweden, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and not least, the aid authority SIDA, as well as parts of the Swedish state-financed civil society.
Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Long history of support for Brotherhood
Even though Sweden closed the Swedish Institute in Alexandria, Egypt in 2018/19, the institute and its successors have had a history that, with probability bordering on certainty, is known to the US intelligence and security agencies.
The Swedish Institute in Alexandria (SwedAlex) was a Swedish state authority for dialogue among Europe, Sweden, the Middle East and North Africa, founded in 1999, but closed in 2019 and moved to Stockholm. As a basis for its establishment, Ambassador Sverker Åström conducted an investigation on behalf of the then-Aid Minister, Pierre Schori (Social Democrat). Charlotta Sparre was appointed Investigation Secretary.
Sparre was then, between September 2008 and August 2013, Sweden's ambassador to Jordan, and between 2013 and 2017, Sweden's ambassador in Egypt. Sparre would return yet later in the institute's history.
Over time, the institute was developed into a pure communication platform tailor-made for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, but financed with grants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, ultimately, the Swedish taxpayers. Under the direction of Peter Weiderud (Social Democrat), the institute, during the period of 2015-2018, came too close to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, which forced a closure.
In the fall of 2018, Weiderud showed up unannounced in Stockholm. A month later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the institute would be shut down, but without Weiderud returning to Alexandria to carry out the shutdown.
Within the party, Weiderud, prior to his appointment as director in Alexandria, was the chairman of the Social Democrats for Faith and Solidarity. It was during this period that the side organization formed a partnership with the Islamic Association in Sweden (IFiS). According to themselves, ISiS is the Muslim Brotherhood's network organisation in Sweden.
As a reason, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Ministry could not come to an agreement with the State Property Agency (SFV) on the rent. A claim that turned out not to be true. Initially, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs classified the rental agreement with SFV as "secret", but SFV released it in a separate release of information request.
There were no rental negotiations. On the contrary, the agreement had been relatively recently renegotiated, and there were two years remaining on the rental agreement when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to shut it down. The location has since stood empty, and the premises are today for sale by the Swedish Church, the actual owner of the property.
After the shutdown, other locations were considered, and eventually, a successor was established, with practically the same type of activity as in Alexandria, but in Amman, Jordan. Charlotta Sparre, the first Investigation Secretary from 1999, would lead the move of the temporary office in Stockholm to Amman, Jordan, where it has been in operation since 2021.
At the inauguration of the institute, representatives from all established religions and political movements in the region were invited. Except for Jews and Israeli citizens, who were excluded. The keynote speaker at the reinauguration was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Annika Söder (Social Democrat).
Today, since August 2024, Charlotta Sparre has been working as deputy director of the Moscow-oriented Swedish Peace Research Institute, SIPRI.
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