By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
CAIRO, Egypt – Egyptian police forces have detained at least thirteen prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition political party, ahead of parliamentary elections later this year.
Those arrested on February 8 include Mahmoud Ezzat, the Muslim Brotherhood’s deputy leader, and two members of the party’s Guidance Council, Dr. Essam el-Erian and Abdul Rahman el-Bir. A spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior confirmed the arrests, only saying the men had been detained for “illegal activities.”
The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt since 1954, though government officials have allowed it to operate somewhat openly, yet members have been frequent target of government arrests. The party is part of the wider Muslim Brotherhood, which operates throughout the Middle East and advocates establishing Islamic states under the rule of Islamic law. The group’s aim has often been seen as a threat to Egypt’s secular, often authoritarian government. Arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members became more frequent in 2009 as they publically opposed the Egyptian government’s decision to keep its border with the Gaza Strip sealed, even as the Israeli blockade on Gaza tighetened.
Since parliamentary elections in 2005, Muslim Brotherhood representatives have held twenty percent of the Egyptian Parliament, under an “independent” party classification, making the group the largest opposition block in the Parliament. A statement on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website called for the leaders’ release, saying, “[s]uch arrests will not deter them from the way they have chosen for attaining the country’s welfare.”
On January16, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt appointed a new leader, Mohammed al-Badie, a 66-year-old veterinary professor. Prof. al-Badie has since expressed his wish for a peaceful relationship with the current Egyptian government, headed by President Hosni Mubarak: “We affirm that the Brotherhood is not for one day an adversary to the regime.”
After Prof. al-Badie was appointed, he emphasized the Muslim Brotherhood’s well-known public rejection of violence, saying his goal was to “show the world the true Islam, the Islam of moderation and forgiveness that respects pluralism in the whole world.”
After news of the February 8 arrests became known, Amnesty International called on Egyptian authorities “to stop their crackdown on peaceful political dissent and uphold the rights to freedoms of expression, association and assembly.”
For more information, please see:
Wall Street Journal – Egypt Arrests Opposition Leaders – 9 February 2010
Al Jazeera – Egypt Arrests Brotherhood Members – 8 February 2010
BBC News – Egypt Detains Muslim Brotherhood Leaders – 8 February 2010
Voice of America – Egyptian Police Arrest Top Muslim Brotherhood Figures – 8 February 2010
