CAIRO, 18 September 2007 — The Egyptian government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood’s largest annual social gathering for the first time in 20 years, part of a concerted crackdown against the country’s opposition, the group’s leadership said yesterday.
Every year, the Brotherhood invites a diverse group of some 1,500 people to one of Cairo’s five-star hotels for a gala dinner during Ramadan, the monthlong period when many Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef criticized Egypt’s Interior Ministry for banning the annual meal, which the country’s largest opposition group had planned for Saturday. “This decision hurts Egypt’s reputation and dignity and gives an impression of instability, which negatively affects the political, economic, and social environment in our beloved Egypt,” Akef said in a statement.
The Interior Ministry declined to comment, but officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press, acknowledged the decision had been made to stop the event.
The ban comes at a time of rising tension between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government and those who question its leadership. Authorities have imprisoned hundreds of Brotherhood members in recent months and have begun a crackdown against dissenting voices within the media.
On Thursday, an Egyptian court sentenced the editors of four outspoken tabloids to a year in prison for defaming Mubarak and his ruling party after they criticized senior officials in the government. One of the editors also faces charges in a separate lawsuit of spreading rumors that the 79-year-old Mubarak was in poor health.
Several opposition and independent newspapers published the reports, prompting the president to accuse “illegitimate movements” — a reference to the Brotherhood — of being behind the rumors. The group’s leader, Akef, has denied the allegation.
