CAIRO – For the first time, a woman is running for the leadership of the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful Islamist group. Sabah el-Saqari said she wants to increase female participation in politics and even defends a woman’s right to run for president, a stance her organization rejects.

But liberals who fear Islamist rule will set back women’s rights said her candidacy is just an attempt by the Brotherhood to improve its image.

A 22-year veteran of the Brotherhood, al-Saqari is running to become chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, which the Brotherhood set up after the fall of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak in February last year.