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Egypt Police Arrest Brotherhood Members Ahead of Polls
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"The
authorities have resorted to these detentions because most of the
means they have used in previous stages have not worked,"
Shatter said.
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CAIRO,
November 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Hundreds
of Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters have been rounded up by
Egyptian police over the past two days ahead of the third phase of
parliamentary election, which kicks off Thursday, December 1, in a bid
to slow the group's head start.
Mohamad
Osama, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, said that security forces
arrested 576 people in the last two days, Reuters reported Thursday,
November 30.
He
earlier said that 1,610 members of the group, which is officially
outlawed but enjoys soaring popularity, had been arrested in the last
two days alone.
Abdel
Moneim Abul Futuh, a senior Brotherhood leader, said most of those
arrested were representatives or campaign managers for some of the 49
Brotherhood candidates running in Thursday's elections.
"The
police are arresting them in their houses, mosques, on the streets and
confiscating computer hard drives," he told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
"These
sweeps targeted possibly up to 2,000 people but many brothers have
started sleeping outside their homes to escape arrest and take part in
the elections."
The
latest arrests were mostly in the provinces of Dakahlia, Damietta,
Sharkia and Kafr El-Sheikh in the Nile Delta and Sohag in southern
Egypt. All these areas will vote on Thursday.
The
movement has already secured 76 seats -- five times its tally in the
outgoing parliament -- and may reach the 100 mark after the final
phase.
The
Muslim Brotherhood's new-found political strength will likely boost
its case for legalization as a political party, although the ruling
party has consistently ruled out such a move.
In
Wednesday's edition of Al-Hayat newspaper, Brotherhood Assam
al-Aryan suggested splitting the movement into a "civil"
political party and a religious-based charity network.
False
Charges
Abul
Futuh further said that police have leveled false charges against
Brotherhood members.
"They
(security forces) are also bringing knives and telling authorities
they were found during the searches," he said.
He
added that another 250 supporters of the movement, who were detained
in similar raids ahead of the previous rounds of voting, were still
behind bars.
The
Egyptian authorities routinely round up large numbers of Brotherhood
activists before elections to undermine the group's attempts to get
out the vote.
Hundreds
of the movement's members were detained during the drawn-out elections
after it became clear from the first phase of polling that the group
was set to achieve major gains.
Brotherhood
leaders and pundits in Egypt had predicted that the ruling National
Democratic Party (NDP), while in no danger of losing its majority,
would use strong-arm tactics to prevent the Brotherhood from making
further inroads in the third phase.
"The
authorities have resorted to these detentions because most of the
means they have used in previous stages have not worked," said
deputy Brotherhood leader Khairat El-Shater.
A
Brotherhood statement on arrests in Dakahlia province in the Nile
Delta said the arrests were intended to thwart the group's election
preparations.
"The
Interior Ministry alleges that these people of social and political
weight ... intended to corrupt the electoral process and that swords,
knives and clubs were found in their possession," it said.
Thugs
hired by President Hosni Mubarak's NDP and police have intimidated
judges and voters alike in the run-offs of the second phase of
election, which took place on November 26, forcing the judiciary to
cancel voting in some constituencies.
Last
week, Egypt's Judges Union pressed for army protection to shield its
members against attacks by thugs in the current parliamentary
elections.
IslamOnline.net
has revealed that Egyptian security agents directed machete- and
club-wielding gangs in attacks against voters and supporters of
opposition candidates in the second round of the Egyptian
parliamentary elections.
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