Politics

Omar Advocates For Egyptian Woman With Alleged Muslim Brotherhood Ties

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Mike Brest Reporter
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Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar advocated Tuesday on behalf of an imprisoned Egyptian woman with alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Omar called on President Donald Trump to bring up Hoda Abdelmonem in future meetings with Egyptian officials. A human rights lawyer, Abdelmonem has been accused of having ties to the Brotherhood, which has been designated by seven countries as a terrorist organization.

“I recently met with @jkbadawy and @thefreedomi to talk about Hoda Abdelmonem, a political prisoner in Egypt. I hope that Trump brings up her case in his meeting with the regime that has imprisoned her. We must work to ,” Omar tweeted Tuesday. (RELATED: Rep. Omar Ignores Reporter’s Question About Why She Supports The BDS Movement)

A 2014 article in The Guardian, recently unearthed by Jordan Schachtel of Conservative Review, cited Abdelmonem and quoted her as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood:

According to Hoda Abdel Moneim, a senior Muslim Sister, women have long been active in the Brotherhood, and do not need to be a part of its leadership. “We always had a role – before, during and after the [recent] events,” she says, noting that one of ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s key advisers – Pakinam el-Sharkawy – was a woman. “It’s not true that women’s opinions are only considered because the men are absent. It was always like this.”

WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 06: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) participates in a House Education and Labor Committee Markup on the H.R. 582 Raise The Wage Act, in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Egyptian officials apprehended Abdelmonem last November as a part of mass arrests. Reuters reported the mass arrests and on Abdelmonem specifically at the time:

Among the others whose detentions were revealed on Thursday along with Shater was Hoda Abd al-Moneim, a 60-year-old lawyer and Brotherhood member. Her family said in a statement they saw her early on Thursday at the state security prosecution office “after 21 days of enforced disappearance by the Egyptian authorities”.

While both Reuters and The Guardian have labeled Abdelmonem a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Wall Street Journal specifically labeled those arrested in the round-up last year as “human rights lawyers.”

At no point in the Journal’s article did they connect the Brotherhood and Abdelmonem.

Omar’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

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