'Al-Gama'a 2' exposes Brotherhood’s dark history in Ramadan

CAIRO – 7 May 2017: Political drama series “Al-Gama'a 2” will be shown during Ramadan 2017, and is causing controversy among the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which consider it a “slap” to the face for exposing their secrets to the audience, according to statements by senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

Izz al-Din Dawidar, a prominent Brotherhood, attacked series author Wahid Hamed, saying the show is a "blow to the group.” Dawidar said Brotherhood leaders are the main reason the group failed to produce their own series in response to “Al- Gama’a,” the first part of the series about the Brotherhood, which aired in 2010.

“I am very disappointed with our leaders, we’ve told them that we have great talents in the acting, producing and directing fields, but they never cared although they spend so much money on other unimportant issues as they don’t realize the importance of art,” Brotherhood member Mohamed Saieed said.

Former Brotherhood leader Tarek Aboul-Saad told Egypt Today that people are “more ready” now to accept anything against the Brotherhood, even if it is exaggerated, as they have “already seen how the group committed crimes including burning police stations and blocking roads.”

“I think that Al-Gama’a 2 will affect the Brotherhood in a very negative way, especially if it is produced in a very professional and non-exaggerated way,” he added.

Commenting on the controversial issue, Islamic researcher Hisham el-Naggar, said the series shows “facts and historical scenes about the Brotherhood’s actions in the past few years,” which he said bothers the group and “makes them seek to distort the whole dramatic production.”

On the other side, Ahmed Ramy, spokesman for the Brotherhood’s now-dissolved Freedom and Justice Party, said the TV series will not affect their political group negatively, adding that the first part, screened in 2010, was “for their good.”

Film critics said the argument raised by the Brotherhood was expected as the series show exactly how the group uses Islam as a pretext to achieve their goals.

At the same time, experts in the affairs of current Islamic movements explained that the Brotherhood fears the series will scandalize their “dark history.”

An informed source said Hamed, the series’ writer, does not care about the attack he is facing from the Brotherhood, quoting him as saying, “I write to the people to uncover the truth of the Muslim Brotherhood, and expose their lies with a high-tech work."

The source asserted that the writer has documents to support everything he wrote in the series.

“Al-Gama'a 2” follows the history of the Brotherhood in the period after the 1952 Revolution and during the era of the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The series stars Sabreen, Abdel Aziz Makhyoun and Mohamed Fahim, and is directed by Sharif el Bendary.