CAIRO, 17 June 2005 — The Egyptian authorities released 140 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood yesterday — some of hundreds detained after the Islamist group organized demonstrations calling for political reform.
Judicial sources said the people released were from Cairo, the Nile Delta provinces of Sharkia and Dakahlia, and the southern provinces of Minya and Fayoum.
On Wednesday the authorities released 77 members of the Brotherhood.
Separately, Egyptian authorities yesterday ordered the detention for 15 days of two men arrested while handing out leaflets opposed to any extension of President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. Mohamed Shafik and Ahmed Eid were arrested on Tuesday while handing out the leaflets at a Cairo underground station. The state security prosecutor ordered that the men, activists in the Kefaya (Enough) Movement, be detained for questioning for 15 days.
