AhlulBayt News Agency: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organisations, an unprecedented step at the state level and one that aligns Florida with the Trump administration’s broader campaign targeting Islamist groups abroad.
“Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organisations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,” DeSantis said in a post on X announcing the order. The designation takes effect immediately.
The move comes as President Donald Trump pushes federal officials to consider similar designations for certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters in the Middle East. Last month, Trump signed an executive order requiring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to assess whether groups in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan should be formally labelled as foreign terrorist organisations. If approved, the designations would trigger US sanctions.
“President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilisation campaigns against US interests and allies,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the national strategy.
Republican leaders have long pressed for the Muslim Brotherhood to be labelled a terrorist organisation, a move Texas adopted at the state level before Florida. CAIR, meanwhile, has strongly rejected previous attempts to link it to extremist groups, calling such efforts politically motivated.
The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in the 1920s, grew into one of the region’s most influential Islamist movements.
......................
End/ 257
Your Comment