Cat-and-mouse chase through the Nile Delta

Kafr Saqr: The first thing I noticed was the motorcycle.

It was hovering close to the tail of the Reuters Jeep I was riding in to head out of Egypt's Nile Delta after a surreal day of covering the Muslim Brotherhood's mostly futile attempts to register for local council elections, due on April 8.

It was the start of a zigzag cat-and-mouse chase along bumpy roads that would last over an hour and involve three pursuing vehicles. I was in the region to look into complaints by the Brotherhood that the US-backed government was barring its members from submitting nomination papers for the vote, sometimes violently.

The Islamist organisation, Egypt's largest opposition group, is especially strong in parts of the Delta.

In the town of Kafr Saqr, where not a single Brotherhood member had successfully registered before my visit, a handful of candidates told of being obstructed from getting the stamps and paperwork needed to enter the race, and then barred from submitting papers.

One potential candidate nursed a black eye. Another, the son of Brotherhood parliamentarian Maher Akl, had a cut lip. Both said they were beaten by police and pro-government thugs when they tried to submit their papers. Opening up a laptop, the parliamentarian's son Islam Akl showed pictures of other would-be Brotherhood candidates he said were hurt while trying to submit their papers.

"They beat one and it makes everyone afraid," said Hesham Al Ghatwari, a teacher and hopeful Brotherhood candidate who was also acting as my guide in Kafr Saqr.

Egypt's Interior Ministry had no comment on the allegations. I accompanied the Brotherhood to two nominating stations. In both places, police and plainclothes security men checked our identity papers and questioned the purpose of our visit.

The Brotherhood said it tried to field more than 5,700 candidates nationwide but fewer than 500 succeeded in registering during a 10-day registration period. Soon after we rolled out of the centre of Kafr Saqr, we noticed the motorcycle on our tail. Minutes later, a light green sedan joined the bike behind us. Our Jeep overheated. We stopped, and our pursuers also stopped.

All of us in the Jeep assumed the men following us were plainclothes government security men. As soon as I approached, both vehicles sped away. Once the Jeep cooled down, we drove on and the sedan again pulled in behind us and followed us to the municipal boundary, where it pulled off the road. But minutes later, a baby blue Peugeot was on our tail.

Increasingly angry, I called the Egyptian government's press centre to report I was being pursued. I was told I was likely being followed for my safety, and my pursuers would probably drop the chase at the provincial boundary. In the end, the problem was resolved in Bilbeis when the Peugeot got stuck on the wrong side of a moving train.

I called the Egyptian government's press centre to report I was being pursued. I was told I was likely being followed for my safety.