A top member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) has denounced the overthrow of the country’s democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi by the army, Press TV reports.

Essam El-Erian, who is the deputy head of FJP, said in an interview with Press TV that Morsi’s ouster was a plot hatched by a US-Israeli alliance.

“When Mr. Morsi was elected, this was a very big surprise and a very big chaos for those alliance [sic] of Israel and America. Mr. Morsi comes from the school of Muslim Brotherhood which wants to cooperate with all nations on the ground of respect and mutual relations, and preserving all interests…,” he said.

El-Erian added that after Morsi was elected, he established relations with Iran and Russia and “visited India, China, Brazil, South Africa and this was a very big change in the foreign policies of Egypt.”


On July 3, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the head of Egypt’s army, announced that Morsi was no longer in office. Sisi also dissolved the Egyptian constitution.

The army declared chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, as interim president on July 4.

Since then, Egypt has been the scene of rival rallies and clashes between thousands of the supporters and opponents of the ousted president.

However, El-Erian said the military’s coup came simply to target the country’s constitution and freedom and added that the Egyptians will continue their protests until Morsi is restored to power.

He also condemned the killing of peaceful protesters following the coup. On July 8, more than 50 people were killed in what the Brotherhood described as a “massacre” by the security forces.

The Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to keep protesting until the ousted president is reinstated.