Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Candidate: Christians Must "Convert, Pay Tribute, or Leave"

According to the Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, has declared that he will "achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, emigrate or else pay the jizya," the financial tribute required of dhimmis (non-Muslims) living under Muslim rule.

Morsi reportedly made these comments in an interview at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, adding "We will not allow Ahmed Shafiq [his contending presidential candidate] or anyone else to impede our second Islamic conquest of Egypt."

When asked what he thought about many Christian Copts coming out to vote for his secular opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, Morsi reportedly said, "They need to know that conquest is coming, and Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must pay jizya or emigrate."

Now it's important to note two things. First, that this is a secualr leaning website rather than an Islamist one and second that Morsi is normally cagey enough to keep these sentiments to himself, although there's no question that this is standard Muslim Brotherhood dogma.

Either he thought he was speaking to a fellow Islamist, or he is so confident of victory that he no longer feels he has to hide these sentiments until after the election