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3. London: The Muslim Brotherhood’s “Rear Base”?

The United Kingdom has long served as a haven for many members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, often described as the movement’s “rear base in Europe.” The Brotherhood established itself in the UK during the 1960s.

Most members settled in London and came from various national branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian, Libyan, Tunisian, and Palestinian branches. Many were students or refugees fleeing persecution in their home countries, holding roles of varying importance within the organization. By the late 1990s, the secretaries-general of the Syrian, Iraqi, and Tunisian branches were all based in London, including Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia’s Ennahda movement.

Each group focused on supporting fellow members in their home countries, organizing events, fundraising campaigns, and publications. They operated independently and sometimes, competed with one another.

A Common Trajectory

According to Lorenzo G. Vidino, author of a 2014 report for the British government on the Muslim Brotherhood, later condensed and published in 2015, one of the first attempts to coordinate these various movements dates back to the 1970s. This occurred with the founding of the Islamic Council of Europe in London by Salem Azzam, and establishment of the Muslim Welfare House (MWH) in London by Ashur Shamis, a Libyan member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The MWH was later led by Kamal Helbawy, a member of the Egyptian Brotherhood who, according to Vidino, joined the organization in the 1950s and spent some time in Afghanistan. At that time, the national branches were loosely connected, yet each largely maintained its independence.”

A member of the Egyptian branch, Ibrahim Mounir represented the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom, serving as the general supervisor of Risalat al-Ikhwan, the official magazine of the Muslim Brotherhood published in London. Between 2020 and 2021, he also held the position of secretary-general of the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 1997, the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) was founded, reportedly with the support of figures linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, including Kamal Helbawy (Egyptian), Anas al-Tikriti and Omar Hamdoun (Iraqi), Azzam Tamimi and Mohammed Sawalha (Palestinian), El Amin Belhaj (Libyan), and Said Ferjani (Tunisian). The organization gained visibility by actively participating in protests against the 2003 Iraq War. Between 2002 and 2006, it was particularly dynamic, seeking to shape debates on Islam within British Muslim communities and political circles. Its connections with Jamaat-e-Islami —a South Asian Islamist movement distinct from Egypt’s al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah—also helped it reach a broader segment of the UK’s Muslim population.
This goal was shared by other organizations, including the British Muslim Initiative and the Cordoba Foundation. While each operated independently, they often maintained connections with one another. At the time, the MAB could readily mobilize several thousand people for events, particularly anti-war protests, and had established ties with political and media circles, largely through its influence within the Muslim Council of Britain.

Furthermore, the MAB is a member of the Council of European Muslims (CEM). Like many organizations close to the Brotherhood, it denies any formal links with the Muslim Brotherhood. However, although many Brotherhood members have been involved in the organization’s activities, the MAB maintains that it operates autonomously and does not take directives from any potential international Muslim Brotherhood structure.

Declining Influence Since the 2010s

In recent years, the MAB has experienced a significant decline in influence. This was due to the departure of many Brotherhood cadres (Helbawy, Belhaj, Ghannouchi, and others) to their home countries during the Arab Spring, growing skepticism among younger generations of Muslims in the UK, internal divisions, state mistrust, and the concurrent rise of Salafism. By 2014, the MAB reported only 600 members, eight social welfare centers, and nine branches across the United Kingdom. According to Vidino, organizations managed or affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood consisted of just a few hundred active members and a number of sympathizers, overseeing roughly a dozen mosques in the country.

After the overthrow of Morsi’s government in Egypt, several activists went to—or returned to—the United Kingdom to escape persecution, including Gomaa Amin, the deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the UK, he received support from several activists, including the Haddad family. Essam el-Haddad, the father, is one of the co-founders of Islamic Relief Worldwide, while his children ran media campaigns defending the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly from the offices of World Media Service (WMS), a company founded in 1993 by Mohammed Ghanem that operates the pro-Brotherhood website ikhwanpress.org. Despite their efforts, public mobilization remained limited.

The Egyptian branch of the Brotherhood, with limited success in attracting large audiences, has maintained contact with its members in Egypt and regularly travels to Turkey to coordinate meetings. It also operates on the legal front, relying on a network of law firms and human rights experts led by the London-based ITN Solicitors. This network filed a complaint against the Egyptian regime before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was rejected in May 2014, and has pursued several other cases before various authorities.

Although London remains a refuge for several Muslim Brotherhood activists, it can no longer be regarded as the movement’s “rear base.” This view is shared by Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, who notes that the United Kingdom has long ceased to function as the Brotherhood’s “global headquarters.” “After 2013, Istanbul became the main center of activity, which is now more dispersed,” he told This is Beirut. “Some influential cadres remain in the UK, but they are subject to much stricter oversight following the 2015 British government review, which found no evidence of a violent threat but concluded that certain aspects of Brotherhood thinking were at odds with British values.”

According to a report by The Guardian, the decision came in response to intense lobbying from the United Arab Emirates. In exchange for measures against the movement, which they strongly oppose, the Emirates reportedly promised investments in the country worth several billion pounds.
Andreas Krieg observes that “it is significant that the United Kingdom was targeted by lobbying campaigns from the United Arab Emirates, aimed at curbing the Muslim Brotherhood and urging London to adopt Abu Dhabi’s hardline position, even though British intelligence deemed the threat exaggerated or nonexistent.”

Far from representing a domestic threat, the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United Kingdom is now modest and largely transnational, focused primarily on its countries of origin.