The Building and Development Party (Al-Banna’ wa al-Tanmiyya) is the official political party of the Egyptian Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group). It was founded by the prominent Islamist Tareq al-Zumr following the January 2011 uprising.  Al-Banna’ wa al-Tanmiyya is a member of the Democratic Alliance.  On September 19th the Political Parties Affairs Committee denied the party a license because its platform was deemed “purely religious.” In response, the party declared that the government had “declared war upon Islam.”

On June 20, 2011, the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group) announced the establishment of its official political wing, al-Banna’ wa al-Tanmiyya. The party was founded by a number of prominent members of al-Gama’a Islamiyya in Egypt, including Tareq al-Zumr and Safwat Abd al-Ghani. Tareq al-Zumr made headlines in Egypt in March 2011 when he was released from prison along with Aboud al-Zumr, after the two spent thirty years in prison for planning President Anwar al-Sadat’s assassination. The party’s founders stated that their group has accepted the principles of political pluralism and equality and has renounced all forms of violence. Al-Banna’ wa al-Tanmiyya gained official recognition as a political party in August 2011.

Platform:
Political Issues:

• Supporting a new political system based on the principles of freedom, justice, plurality, equality, and peaceful rotation of power
• Promoting legal, constitutional, and political reform, such as greater judicial oversight over the national security apparatus
• Supporting solutions to social, political, economic, and strategic challenges that come from Islam and the modern application of Islamic law

Socio-economic Issues:

• Preserving Egypt’s Islamic and Arab identity and challenging any attempts at Westernization and secularization
• Establishing strong Islamic values in society to combat injustice, corruption, and moral decay
• Establishing Islamic hudud or criminal punishments including the cutting off of hands for theft, stoning to death of adulterers, and lashing those who drink alcohol
• Supporting the roles of the family and women in society in accordance with Islamic principles
• Spreading the political concepts and values of Islam and combating smear campaigns against Islam

Foreign Policy Issues:

• Affirming Egypt’s role as a leader of the Arab world and the Islamic community
• Supporting the right of occupied peoples to their land, especially in Palestine
• Establishing stronger political and economic relations with the Nile Basin countries

Major Party Figures:
Tareq al-Zumr: Founder
Safwat Abd al-Ghani: Founder
Al-Shazli al-Sagher: Founder
Ashraf Tawfiq: Founder
Mohammed Essam Derbala: President of the Shura Council of the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya
Osama Hafez: Vice-President of the Shura Council of the Egyptian Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya

Websites:
http://tinyurl.com/44kqruc (Facebook)

From Guide to Egypt’s Transition, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: http://egyptelections.carnegieendowment.org/2011/09/20/al-banna’-wa-al-tanmiyya-building-and-development-party

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