La Mesan Successfully Petitions White House to Declare Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization

Originally published 11:21 a.m. Aug. 20.

Before violence broke out in Egypt in the past week and days after Mohammed Morsi was removed from office last month, a whitehouse.gov petition was started by a La Mesa resident to ask the Obama administration to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

Started July 7, the petition has thus far collected more than 189,000 signatures, far exceeding the 100,000 signature threshold necessary to prompt an official response from the Obama administration.

"Muslim Brotherhood has a long history of violent killings & terrorizing opponents. Also MB has direct ties with most terrorist groups like Hamas," the petition states.

The petition was created by H.L., an individual whose first and last name are unknown since petitions are signed only with a person's first and last initials, though whitehouse.gov states that the petition creator lives in La Mesa, CA. 

Zip codes users volunteer for petitions.whitehouse.gov accounts are not verified, a White House official told La Mesa Patch.

No official response to the petition has been posted on the White House's website.

The majority of signatures may be from Egyptian citizens, the Washington Post blog WorldViews reported.

The petition exceeded the threshold on or before Aug. 1, according to Fox News.

The Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi supporters have protested since the former president of the most populous country in the region was removed from office last month.

More than 800 people have died since a state of emergency was declared last week by the Egyptian military and security forces, according to NBC News.

State television broadcasts have run coverage of the unrest with the banner "Egypt Fights Terrorism" for days, Global Post reported Tuesday. Egyptian officials have also called some recent violence acts of terrorism.