Egypt’s Brotherhood appoints new leader

The Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition movement in Egypt, has appointed Mohammed Badie as its new leader.

The 66-year-old Badie said his group would try to show the world the Islam of moderation and forgiveness that respects global pluralism.

“We believe in incremental reform and that takes places in a peaceful and constitutional way. We reject violence and denounce it in all its forms,” Badie said on Saturday.

Muslim Brotherhood has been officially banned from political activities by the government

However, the group controls a fifth of the total seats in the Egyptian parliament after it decided to run independent candidates in the last general election in 2005.

The new leader was jailed for nine years in the 1960s after being accused of membership in a paramilitary cell of the Brotherhood that allegedly sought the overthrow of the government.

He later became responsible for the ‘ideological education’ in the group.