In this July 13, 2012, file photo, Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi speaks to reporters at the Presidential palace in Cairo. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The pro-Mursi Anti-Coup Alliance is studying the possibility of forming a government in exile and seeking to prosecute Egyptian military leaders in international courts.
Osama Rushdie, a senior member of the organization, told Asharq Al-Awsat affirmed that “all options” are being studied by the Anti-Coup Alliance, including the idea of forming a government in exile. He added that the group will also push for an International Criminal Court investigation into human rights violations in Egypt.
Rushdie told Asharq Al-Awsat that many Islamist leaders have sought to flee the country following Mursi’s ouster. He said: “Certainly there are leaders who have left, there are some who felt under threat and so they left the country, while others had previously been in exile but returned [during the Mursi era].”
Osama Rushdie, a well-known member of Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya, returned to Egypt following the January 25 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
He fled to Britain following Mursi’s ouster on July 3.
Rushdie dismissed claims that the pro-Mursi alliance is seeking the help of Turkey and other Islamist countries to topple the military-backed interim government. He acknowledged that Egyptian Islamists have held conferences in Pakistan and Turkey, but stressed that “there is nothing wrong or illegal about holding conferences abroad.”
“When Egyptians get together abroad, they do not need a call or permission from anybody to discuss the issues in their country and seek support for the usurped legitimacy in their country or to investigate the crimes against humanity and massacres being committed in Egypt,” he said.
“We call on all Egyptians at home and abroad to shoulder their responsibilities to prevent the military dictatorship and fascist state that is emerging now on the ruins of the January 25 revolution,” Rushdie added.
The Anti-Coup Alliance is an umbrella organization of 40 Islamist parties and groups who reject what they consider a military coup in Egypt, calling for the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Mursi. The Muslim Brotherhood-led alliance includes several prominent Islamist parties, most prominently the Building and Development Party, the political arm of Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya.