2 min readAug 4, 2013 12:48 AM IST
First published on: Aug 4, 2013 at 12:48 AM IST
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Egypts Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters to abandon democracy and seek to govern through the full implementation of Islamic law.
Zawahiri,while condemning the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi,also blamed the ousted Egyptian leader for trying to satisfy America by abandoning jihad.
In a 15-minute recording posted on Islamist websites Saturday,Zawahiri criticised Islamists who had formed political parties in Egypt and supported the Egyptian military in ousting Morsi.
I give this piece of advice to whoever supported Morsi and I tell them first we have to admit that legitimacy doesnt lie in elections and democracy but it lies in Sharia, Zawahiri said.
Sharia is not electing Morsi president of a republic,a president of a secular and nationalistic state, he added.
The recording,posted two days after US Secretary of State John Kerry gave his seal of approval to Egypts new leaders saying they had restored democracy,also lashed out against US policy and the Egyptian army.
The crusaders,the secularists,the pro-US army and former Mubarak supporters and a few of those who are linked to the Islamists have worked with Gulf money and US planning to overthrow Mohamed Morsis government, Zawahiri said.
The messages authenticity could not be independently confirmed but was posted on a militant website used by al-Qaeda.
More than 300 people have been killed in Egypt since the army removed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood from power on July 3 in response to mass protests against his rule.
Morsi supporters have been staging two main sit-ins in Cairo since his ouster asking to bring him back to power. What happened is the greatest evidence that taking democracy as a path to Islamic rule has failed, Zawahri said.
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