Region | Egypt
30 Muslim Brotherhood members detained by police in dawn raids
Police detained at least 30 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful opposition group, in dawn raids on Thursday in three provinces, security sources said.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:44 April 4, 2008
Cairo: Police detained at least 30 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful opposition group, in dawn raids on Thursday in three provinces, security sources said.
The Brotherhood's web site named 37 detainees and said police had raided the houses of three other members but they were not at home.
A security source said a number of the detainees had been the subject of court rulings recognising them as candidates in next week's local elections.
Police rounded up the men in the coastal province of Alexandria and the Nile Delta provinces of Kafr Al Shaikh and Sharkia on suspicion of "belonging to a banned organisation," the source said.
Police detained 247 of the Brotherhood in sweeps on Tuesday and Wednesday in several provinces after protests by several thousand Brotherhood members against government efforts to stop the group from running in the elections.
Eleven Brotherhood members were injured in the protests when police used rubber bullets, tear gas and batons.
In the past few weeks, Egyptian courts have issued hundreds of rulings obliging the government to accept the candidacy of members of the Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood says authorities have ignored these rulings.
The courts then issued scores of rulings ordering a halt to the elections in a number of provinces because of the authorities' refusal to comply. There is no indication those rulings will be implemented.
Shameless bid
US-based Human Rights Watch has called the arrests a "shameless bid" to fix the elections in which the Brotherhood is running against the ruling National Democratic Party.
The Interior Ministry has repeatedly declined to comment.
The Brotherhood seeks an Islamic state through non-violent and democratic means.
Seats on local councils could be important for the Brotherhood on a national level if it wants to field an independent candidate in a future presidential election.
Independent candidates for the presidency need endorsements from 140 members of local councils as well as support from members of both houses of parliament.
The government calls the Muslim Brotherhood a banned organisation but the group operates openly and holds a fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament through members elected as independents.
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