http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2538755/Egypts-Muslim-Brotherhood-open-London-office-disused-kebab-shop-Cricklewood.htmlEgypt's Muslim Brotherhood open London office... above a disused kebab shop in Cricklewood
Muslim Brotherhood in disarray after President Morsi forced from power
Restrictions put on their operations in Egypt so they move to London
A small flat above a disused kebab shop chosen to be headquarters
It looks like any recession-hit high street, with a ladies’ hair salon, a cut-price TV store and, in between, a disused kebab shop.
But secreted above the shuttered premises that once sold Middle Eastern food is an altogether different import from the Arab world.
The cramped flat in Cricklewood, North West London, is now the centre of operations for Egypt’s once-mighty Muslim Brotherhood.
It is from here that the controversial Islamist organisation, expelled from power in a bloody military coup in Cairo, is plotting its comeback.
The Brotherhood’s leader, deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, is in jail following last July’s coup in which more than 1,000 died in street clashes. But it still has the support of millions across the Arab world and has been given shelter on Cricklewood Broadway by an Islamic charity.
President Mohamed Morsi faces trial for alleged treason after being forced from office, but his supporters are plotting a fightback from their London office.
Yesterday, a Brotherhood official denied it was using the down-at-heel premises. The man, who would not give his name, told the Daily Mail: ‘This is the offices of a legitimate business and nothing more.’
But Mohamed Ghanem, 68, the expatriate Egyptian who has run the non-profit World Media Services for more than 20 years, confirmed: ‘This is an Islamic charity and we have same values of the Muslim Brotherhood. So when their members had to leave Egypt, we helped them.’
Regulars at an Algerian cafe across the road are in no doubt that the flat is the organisation’s command centre. One said: ‘The Muslim Brotherhood have been there for just under a year.
The leaders come and go throughout the day and the evening. Sometimes you see them coming out with Muslim Brotherhood banners, on their way to demonstrations.’
The HQ is run by relatives of two Morsi aides who were arrested with him. One official, who asked to remain anonymous, said London was ‘the capital of a free democracy that values human rights and social justice’.
Another said: ‘We look forward to seeing those values brought back to Egypt once our democracy is restored and our freedom from dictatorship and repression won.’
Muslim Brotherhood official Ibrahim Mounir, who is based in the UK, says that while the organisation’s highest orders still come from Cairo, the London office is a hub where members can meet in safety.
‘It is our objective that the coup leaders are held accountable for their atrocities,’ he said.
Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood advocates Sharia law and rejects Western values.
It made its name fighting British rule in Egypt and was linked to the 1981 assassination of President Sadat.
It won the elections following the 2011 Egyptian revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak.
Mr Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, only to be ousted by the coup after the Brotherhood’s disastrous rule left Egypt divided and close to ruin.
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