Muslim Brotherhood will face US terrorist designation under Trump: report

US President Donald Trump has announced plans to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, he told the US outlet Just the News on Sunday.  

According to the publication, Trump has been considering this step since his first term in office.  

"It will be done in the strongest and most powerful terms," Just the News quoted Trump as saying, adding that "Final documents are being drawn."

The announcement comes after years of speculation that the White House was exploring ways to apply a foreign terrorist designation to parts of the Muslim Brotherhood, a move that was not achieved during Trump’s first term and was not pursued by the Biden administration.  

Prominent Republican lawmakers have long advocated for the group to be labelled a terrorist organisation, with members of the Senate and House introducing legislation to take action against the Muslim Brotherhood in July. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later confirmed in August that a designation for parts of the organisation was "in the works."

In the US, a full designation has been difficult due to the Brotherhood’s decentralised structure and its presence across numerous countries. 

The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most influential Islamic political movements, was founded in Egypt in 1928.  

The group has consistently argued that it is a peaceful organisation committed to democratic engagement, though many autocratic governments in the Middle East and North Africa view it as a significant threat.  

Several states, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and Russia, already classify the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, while Jordan banned the group in April following the arrest of individuals allegedly linked to the movement and accused of plotting attacks involving rockets and drones. 

The latest developments also follow Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s decision on Tuesday to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the US Muslim civil rights organisation the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), as “foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations.”  

The move has since sparked intense controversy with US Muslim groups filing a federal lawsuit on Thursday in response against Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeking to block what they describe as an “unconstitutional and defamatory proclamation" targeting CAIR’s Texas branch.  

"This attempt to punish the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization simply because Governor Abbott disagrees with its views is not only contrary to the United States Constitution, but finds no support in any Texas law," CAIR stated in its lawsuit. 

Abbott has also ordered investigations into alleged "sharia courts," accusing unnamed tribunals in North Texas of "masquerading" as legal courts and issuing rulings outside the scope of US law. 

Lena Masri, CAIR’s litigation director, said the organisation has "successfully sued and defeated Greg Abbott the last three times he tried to violate the First Amendment by punishing critics of the Israeli government."

CAIR-Texas added that it will not be "intimidated by smear campaigns launched by Israel First politicians."