With the second anniversary of Egypt's popular uprising around the corner, questions over the role the Muslim Brotherhood played in the revolution are resurfacing. Did they join from the outset or jumped on the bandwagon? As we are celebrating two years since the revolution broke out, I am giving my account on an event I was witness to as a media figure of the Muslim Brotherhood. During the revolution days, I was chief editor of the Brotherhood's official website and earlier a representative of the Islamist group in the campaign for gathering a million signatures on a petition-known as "Baradei demands," calling for constitutional changes and guarantees of free elections.

Did the revolution break out on 25 January 2011, a date that was set to send a message to the former regime and its notorious police apparatus coinciding with National Police Day? Or was it preceded by a build-up of events that the Brotherhood were part of like others?

As a media person who witnessed how events unfolded in Egypt since 2004 when Kefaya Movement was set up, the 2005 elections, the later military trials of Brotherhood officials and the prior and following partisan and labour protests, I would say that the genuine spark that set off the revolution was when Egyptians chanted "Down with Hosni Mubarak" at the Press Syndicate. There was diverse political participation from opposition benches who brought such chants into action on 25 January 2011.

Did those who called for the revolution aim that 25 January would turn into a popular uprising? More importantly, are those who took to the streets that day the owners of the revolution? Or is there a decisive point at which a protest turns into a revolution? When tracing what  Egypt witnessed, it'd be palpable that each action taken against the former regime — from seeking a living and job opportunities to speaking out against a city flooded by wastewater — helped erode its popularity and uncover its notorious practices.

Actions on the ground were to go to a larger scale with popular protests condemning the regime's disgraceful stances towards Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the backing of the 2008 war and tightening the siege of that territory.

Degenerating living conditions coupled with the unsatisfactory foreign performance of the government — from the Nile Basin Initiative, the Palestinian issue, to the Arab-Zionist conflict — and the mounting suppression of the old regime all provoked the outbreak of a revolution those most optimistic would have never envisioned would break out in Egypt the way it did.

Such an anatomy leads me to believe that no single faction owns this revolution, but rather all Egyptians do with the dramatic transformation they brought about when they took to the streets nationwide to claim their rights and restore the dignity and humanity that they lost over the years.

Narrating the Brotherhood's many years of suffering and suppression at the hands of Mubarak and his police thugs would never be adequate to refute allegations that the Brothers were latecomers to the revolution.

In its long struggle under Mubarak's autocratic rule, thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood members were detained, imprisoned, tortured to death and put on military trial, a fact that the group's opponents — earlier sympathisers — acknowledge. The latest of such trials was that of 40 of the group's officials, among whom was Khairat Al-Shater who, along with businessman Hassan Malek, was sentenced to seven years in jail and had their companies and money confiscated after the group won 88 seats in the 2005-2010 parliament.

Mubarak's prison was never vacant of Brotherhood officials, whether convicted or not; the regime seemingly allocated a quota for them in its jails.

January 2011 saw premature movements by the Brotherhood against the Mubarak regime, sending it words of warning to be mindful of the fate of Tunisia's Ben Ali.

The group managed in 2010 to gather 860,000 signatures on the National Association for Change's (NAC) petition that was meant to press the regime for change and pre-empt the bequeath of power, completing a million signatures with the coalition's 140,000.

In an early January meeting between me and NAC head Abdel Geleel Mustafa, NAC member Ahmed Derag and the dear friend Abdel Rahman Samir (a Revolution Youth Coalition member), we suggested staging mass protests and marches in Cairo and across governorates led by Brotherhood officials — on top of whom, Supreme Guide Mohamed Badei — and association leaders, nominally Mohamed El-Baradei.

With widespread scepticism over the role the Brotherhood played in the revolution, I clarify in the following points some of the group's documented stances prior to the revolution:

1. Monday, 17 November 2011: A televised interview with Mohamed Morsi, who was a member of the group's Guidance Bureau then and the political department chief, was broadcast on the Brotherhood's online portal and spread across internet websites. During the interview, entitled "Tunisia's Revolution and Demands of Egyptians," Morsi presented five demands that would ensure the stability of the country before the revolution broke out. To know these demands, check out these links: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZXfIwDgegZo- http://youtube.com/watch?v=IKXXCOdbKjA

2. Wednesday, 19 January 2011: The Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement entitled "The Muslim Brotherhood and the Ongoing Events … Tunisia's Uprising and Egyptians' demands." The statement highlighted that 10 demands have to be met to ensure Egypt's stability and placate Egyptians; Egypt is close to witnessing an uprising similar to Tunisia; and that tyrannical presidents should be mindful of the Tunisian president's fate. In the same day, the group issued a media statement entitled: "Ten demands to pre-empt the revolution," reiterating the same demands of the first statement.

3. Sunday, 23 January 2011: The group issued a statement in which it asserted that the continuing refusal of the regime to take heed of the protestors' demands will lead the whole nation to revolt, and that summoning the groups officials by the State Security apparatus would not intimidate the group into not joining forces with all Egyptians in claiming their rights. In the same day, Essam El-Erian, the group's spokesman and member of the Guidance Bureau, made an announcement, circulated on the internet and on different satellite TV channels, that the group had given the go-ahead to its members to take part in the 25 January protest on condition that they inform their leaders across cities and districts.

4. Tuesday, 25 January 2011: The Ministry of Interior issued a statement in which it stated that the Muslim Brotherhood mobilised large numbers of protesters in Cairo, which sparked off riots with police forces. Moreover, all Brotherhood figures and former deputies took part in a protest before the High Judiciary Court and in Tahrir Square and were assaulted and beaten by security forces, which was reported by different media outlets at the time.

5. Wednesday, 26 January 2011: The Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement on how the events of 25 January unfolded, asserting that the regime should be held accountable for the crackdown on protestors. The Brotherhood announced in the statement it would officially take part in the "Friday of Rage" on 28 January in town and city squares nationwide. On the same day, the group issued a media statement entitled "The Egyptian Protesters" in which it affirmed it would join forces with other political powers in their peaceful struggle to secure freedom, lift the emergency law, and dissolve the lower house of parliament.

6-   Friday dawn, 28 January 2011: Tens of Muslim Brotherhood officials were detained and taken to Wadi Al-Natroun Prison. This included President Mohamed Morsi, Saad Al-Katatni, Essam El-Erian, Hamdy Hassan, Mohsen Radi, Ahmed Diab and Mohey Hamed, among others.

7. Saturday, 29 January 2011: The Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement asserting the people's right to stand up for their legitimate demands, and called on the Brotherhood masses and all Egyptians to press on with their protest until their demands are met.

8. Monday, 1 January 2011: The Brotherhood issued a statement warning of the regime's ploys that were designed to shatter the unity of the people, calling on the Brotherhood masses and all Egyptians to stand their ground and press on with their demands.

9. Wednesday, 2 February 2011: The Brotherhood issued a statement refusing any negotiation with the former regime that the group said had lost its legitimacy, asserting that according to Article 3 of the constitution, the people have become the source of sovereignty. The statement also demanded that the president step down, that the higher and lower houses of parliament be dissolved, and that the head of the High Constitutional Court takes over the state, along with other demands.

10. Friday, 2 February 2011: The office of the Brotherhood's official website (ikhwanonline.com) was stormed by the military police, military intelligence and the state security apparatus with 14 employees arrested in retaliation for exposing the former regime's infamous practices and broadcasting the clampdown on Tahrir protestors to the whole world.

By all accounts of public figures known for their anti-Brotherhood stances — the likes of Naguib Sawiris, Zahi Hawass, Mamdouh Hamza, Mostafa Bakry and others — the Brotherhood and the Salafists in particular played a key role in the Battle of the Camel to maintain the revolution's momentum and keep Tahrir Square packed.