In an article published July 3, 2011 on the Muslim Brotherhood website, Egyptian author and playwright Khaled Ibrahim called on the Egyptian youth who launched the revolution to hunt down and expose the "fifth column" that is threatening the homeland. Ibrahim listed numerous circles and bodies where these "traitors" can be found, including among foreign organizations, NGOs that receive foreign funding, intellectuals and journalists, and artists who "corrupt the values of society." Also suspicious are all former members and supporters of the Mubarak regime.
The following are excerpts from the article:
Foreign Powers Are Recruiting Collaborators in Egypt under the Pretext of Spreading Democracy "
The announcement that our heroes, the members of the Egyptian intelligence [apparatuses], have captured collaborators and spies who threatened the security of our beloved homeland is still shaking us the core. Night and day, we see and hear announcements by foreign countries looking to fund [various activities in Egypt] under the pretext of spreading democracy. Since the wise Egyptians know that a hawk does not drop the fledglings [it has captured], they realize that these funds are meant to create a fifth column of collaborators who will clandestinely strive to weaken our country and pave the way to occupying it, militarily or politically, by shaping and directing public opinion [and harnessing it] to foreign agendas. Therefore, the national security apparatuses and their honorable members must perform their duty of protecting the homeland by deterring the collaborators who aim to undermine and destroy its security.
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"If regional and international circumstances are hobbling the security apparatuses, and preventing them from punishing these traitors, these scandals [i.e., the traitors' activities] must at least be documented using modern tools such as Facebook, YouTube, and the like, so that the public will be aware of the danger they pose and [realize] their deception.
"The patriotic, brave and loyal Egyptian youths who launched the January 25 revolution that swept up the entire [Egyptian] nation... are charged with the enormous task of forming committees and search teams that will expose the fifth column, prepare a list of its members, and denounce their destructive activities, so that the next generations do not forget about them or inadvertently elect them to be the guardians of the homeland. This is the way to protect the security of our beloved Egypt.
"The youths carrying out this enormous task must consult patriotic expert attorneys and loyal media personnel who are experienced in these matters. At the same time, they must be very careful not to accuse innocent people. Better a thousand criminals evading justice than one innocent man convicted [of crimes he did not commit]."
"The Task [of Identifying the Fifth Column] Is Doable, Because the Suspicious Elements Are Almost Calling Out 'Here I Am'"
"The question is, where should our young people begin their search? The task is doable, because the suspicious elements are almost calling out 'here I am.'
"The youth committees should search within the following circles:
- "Employees of foreign organizations, especially research centers, peace organizations, and polling institutes.
- "Employees of civil associations and NGOs that receive foreign funding, particularly political organizations, and organizations promoting human rights, women's rights, and children's rights.
- "Businessmen who received lands and contracts for mega-projects from the regime that has perished from the earth [i.e., the Mubarak regime], and were granted access to the markets of [various] countries...
- "Intellectuals and academics who are regulars at conferences funded by foreign elements... particularly those who receive prizes from foreign countries that have nothing to do with discoveries in applied [fields] of science.
- "Journalists and members of the media, especially the swindlers, liars, blasphemers... hypocrites and inciters, and all those who mourned [the fall] of the deposed president [Mubarak].
- "The artists who support dictatorships, particularly those whose art corrupts society's values.
- "Politicians and senior members of... parties that were supported by the previous regime, particularly those appointed to parliament or to the municipal councils, or those for whom elections were forged.
- "The heads of the dissolved National [Democratic] Party and its members in all the governorates who entered parliament or the municipal councils; as well as those who were on the party's list of candidates but were not [elected], and those who presented themselves as independents [but toed the NDP party line]... and particularly anyone who, even for a day, was part of Gamal Mubarak's policy committee.
- "The clerics who supported the failed plan to pass [the presidency from father to son] and spoke smoothly with the corrupt, and particularly those who spread despicable sectarianism.
- "The evil angels of torture, particularly those whose hands are stained with the blood of honorable Egyptians [killed] before the revolution and during it.
- "The court journalists who call for the dictatorship to continue; the hypocrites of the [Mubarak] era that has ended; all those trying to circumvent the will of the people and its right to elect its leaders and members of parliament; and particularly those who harmed the great Egyptian people and accused it of ignorance and superficiality.
"Will the youth of the Egyptian revolution succeed in its mission of sacrifice, [namely] to prepare a comprehensive list of [those in] the fifth column, who are being paid [by forces both] within Egypt and abroad to sell out their homeland, [and] to document [this list] in audio and video along with decisive and irrefutable proof?"
