CAIRO, 26 October 2007 — The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s biggest opposition group, will not abandon its position that women and non-Muslims are ineligible to hold the presidency of the country, the group’s deputy leader said yesterday.

That position, laid down in the most comprehensive program the Brotherhood has ever drafted, has alarmed secular activists and even some Islamists, who say it contradicts the group’s repeated statements in favor of equal rights for all Egyptians.

The program places a major emphasis on Shariah, Islamic law, and tries to apply Islamic principles to all aspects of life, from politics to foreign investment and education. “The presidency should be for a male Muslim... We have chosen this and I do not imagine that we would back down,” Mohamed Habib told Reuters in an interview.

He said Christians and women would “assume all public posts, enjoy all rights without any discrimination, except this job.” “If the people accept this then it is good. If they reject it, then that is their right,” he added.

Egypt is dominated by Sunni Muslims. The constitution has no restrictions on who can be president but it says Shariah is the main source of legislation.

But Habib said the group would amend an article in the draft program that sets up a committee of elected religious scholars to vet laws, ensuring their compatibility with Shariah.

“The committee has an advisory opinion and it is not binding. The draft needed more details and clarity.” The article sparked comparisons between the Brotherhood and the Islamic Republic of Iran, where Shiite religious leaders have the final say on state matters.

The Brotherhood has promoted itself in recent years as a reformist group struggling against the government of President Hosni Mubarak.

Authorities called it an outlawed group but its members, running as independent candidates, hold nearly one-fifth of Parliament seats in 2005.

Analysts and some Brotherhood members say the program shows that the group is still dominated by conservatives seeking to consolidate their support among average Egyptians who value religion highly in their lives.

“They do not intend to lose their support base,” said Abdel-Moneim Mahmoud, a prominent young Brotherhood member and blogger who criticized the program for its repeated references to Shariah and the discrimination against non-Muslims and women.

“We are the Muslim Brotherhood. Why should we mention Shariah in every line? Who are we trying to provoke?” The program appears to be the latest attempt to reconcile Islam and its laws with the notions of democracy and modern state governance. It also helped shed light on the stance of the Brotherhood on topics such as music and other creative arts.

Egyptian authorities detained 13 students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood after clashes with security men at a university campus on Wednesday, Brotherhood sources said.

They were protesting against alleged vote rigging in student elections at Cairo’s Ain Shams University on Monday. The university authorities disqualified all Islamist candidates, common practice in Egyptian university elections.

The students had gathered in front of university offices to collect signatures and read out a prepared statement when security men in plain clothes attacked them, Brotherhood students said.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said he had no knowledge of the detentions or the university clashes. Amr Sherif, a photographer covering the protest for the opposition newspaper Al-Destour, told Reuters he was taken to hospital after policemen armed with sticks beat him and took the memory card from his digital camera.

Brotherhood sources also said security men used improvised percussion grenades and Molotov cocktails. In the Sharkia province northeast of Cairo, police also detained four Brotherhood members on Wednesday over clashes 11 days ago, security sources said. The clashes broke out when a dispute over prayers marking the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Fitr turned violent.