Chairat al-Shater

Muhammad Chairat Sa'd al-Shater ( Arabic محمد خيرت سعد الشاطر, DMG Muḥammad Ḫairat Saʿd aš-Šāṭir [ ˈxæjɾæt eʃˈʃɑːtˤeɾ ]; * May 4, 1950 in Dakahlia ) is an Islamist activist, engineer and businessman. He was a candidate for the Freedom and Justice Party , the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood , in Egypt's 2012 presidential election . Previously, he had spent several years in prison for alleged money laundering and was vice chairman of the Brotherhood.

Al-Schater is an advocate of privatization and the free market economy and advocates an open break with the military council . The father of ten children - and at the same time the grandfather of 16 grandchildren - runs a successful furniture and textile company. His net worth is estimated at several million US dollars; he is a major financier and chief strategist for the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore, he - and not the "Supreme Leader" Mohammed Badi - is considered to be the actual leader of the brotherhood.

Life and politics

Chairat al-Schater joined President Gamal Abdel Nasser's Arab Socialist Union at the age of 16 . In 1968 he took part in the student protests. After he completed his two-year military service and his studies in engineering at the University of Alexandria had finished, he became a lecturer at the University of Mansura .

Later, however, he joined the Islamist opposition and in 1981 went into exile in England for political reasons . He returned to Egypt in the mid-1980s and joined the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1995 he became their leader in the greater Cairo area . In 2007 he was sentenced to prison for alleged money laundering. Due to his wealth, al-Shater enjoyed - in exchange for gifts to the security forces - perks during detention, so that he could continue his business activities and his political career almost unimpaired. Al-Shater was largely responsible for the administration of the Muslim Brotherhood's funds. Thanks to the investments he initiated, the budget of the Islamist organization could be financially restored. The military council that ruled from 2011 pardoned him in 2011.

Presidential candidacy

On March 31, 2012, the Freedom and Justice Party named him as a candidate for the May presidential election . His nomination was decided in the governing body of the organization with 56 to 52 votes. Al-Schater formally resigned from the Brotherhood in order not to break the Brotherhood's promise not to send a candidate into the race. The announcement of al-Shater's presidential candidacy was a first in the Brotherhood's 83-year history, which so far had promised that none of its members would seek presidency in order to allay the fears of secular Egyptians and Western governments of an Islamist takeover by the group . Al-Schater had personally campaigned for Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh , pioneer of a liberal Islam, to be expelled from the Muslim Brotherhood when the latter, contrary to the instructions of the executive office, from which he had already been voted out in 2009 at al-Schater's instigation, was expelled Presidential candidacy declared.

In April 2012, the electoral commission announced that it would exclude al-Schater from the presidential election because a current law stipulates that former prisoners will not be allowed to vote for six years after serving their sentence or pardon.

Web links

• Chairat al-Schater's website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Muslim Brotherhood nominates its own candidate. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . April 1, 2012, accessed April 2, 2012 . 
2. ^ Zeinab Abul-Maid: The Brotherhood's businessmen. In: Egypt Independent. February 13, 2012, accessed February 15, 2012 . 
3. ^ Avi Asher-Schapiro: The GOP Brotherhood of Egypt. In: Salon. January 26, 2012, accessed February 15, 2012 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Beate Seel: Muslim Brother Chairat al-Schater - The first candidate. In: the daily newspaper. Retrieved April 2, 2012 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Karim El-Gawhary : Presidential elections in Egypt - Muslim Brothers stand. In: the daily newspaper. Retrieved April 2, 2012 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Amira Howeidi: Meet the Brotherhood's enforcer: Khairat El-Shater. In: Ahram Online. March 29, 2012, accessed April 2, 2012 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Update: Muslim Brotherhood endorses Khairat al-Shater as presidential candidate. In: Egypt Independent. Retrieved April 1, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Jeffrey Fleishman: Egyptian Islamists pin their hopes on Islamic law. In: Los Angeles Times. April 5, 2012, accessed April 7, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Presidential election on the Nile: Ten candidates excluded from election in Egypt ( Memento from April 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de, April 14, 2012 (accessed on April 14, 2012).