CAIRO, 16 February 2007 — Egyptian security forces detained 80 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood yesterday in sweeps at dawn, intensifying a clampdown against the movement.
The government focused its arrests in Cairo and the Nile Delta, where the Islamist movement has a strong popular base, and the group said those detained included the office managers of three Brotherhood members of Parliament.
Security sources said the men were arrested on charges of belonging to an outlawed group and possessing anti-government literature. The Brotherhood, which operates openly despite being officially banned, is Egypt’s most powerful opposition group.
“They were arrested for belonging to an illegal organization, and police found secret documents in their possession,” a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Brotherhood condemned the sweeps as an attempt to reduce its clout ahead of elections for the upper house of Parliament in April, in which it is widely expected to take part. The group won a fifth of the seats in the lower house in 2005.
Many of those arrested were professionals, including doctors, engineers and teachers. Two former Brotherhood parliamentary candidates were also held, the group said on its website www.ikhwanonline.com.
“This is an attempt to marginalize the role of the Brotherhood in Egyptian political life, an attempt to impede our political path and snarl our plans and strategies,” Mohamed Habib, the Brotherhood’s deputy leader, told Reuters.
“There are upcoming elections for the Shoura Council ... and maybe the regime thinks that we will enter these elections. It is true that we have not decided anything yet on this matter. But they are trying to deliver pre-emptive strikes out of fear that we will contest the elections,” he added.
Winning seats in the Shoura Council could help the Brotherhood bypass a ban that prevents all but recognized political parties from running for president. Presidential elections are not due until 2011.
In an escalation against the Brotherhood, Egypt referred 40 members of the group including third-in-command Khairat El-Shatir a week ago for trial in military courts, where verdicts are often issued quickly and cannot be appealed.
Those men, who face terrorism and money-laundering charges, will be the first Brotherhood members to face military trials since 2001. The Islamist group, which says it rejects violence, has said it was preparing for a tough legal fight.
Many analysts say a protest at Al-Azhar University in December, in which students loyal to the Brotherhood dressed in black militia-style uniforms, triggered the crackdown on the group.
According to the movement, hundreds of its supporters are currently behind bars and the latest sweep brought to around 300 the number of its members detained since the start of the month.
“This escalation in the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has worrying implications for anyone who peacefully campaigns for change.” A senior columnist with the country’s top-selling state-owned daily, Al-Ahram, also criticized the regime’s approach.
“Exaggerating the Islamist threat instead of confronting it politically and absorbing it peacefully, has become an industry hampering democratic change and breeding more extremism,” Salama Ahmed Salama wrote.
