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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Study Special Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Tightening the net
By Jailan HalawiThe crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood continued as the prosecutor-general extended the detention of 20 alleged Brotherhood activists, arrested two weeks ago, by another 15 days pending investigation.
Among those detained are twelve council members from the engineers', doctors', accountants', pharmacists', veterinary surgeons' and lawyers' syndicates. They include Mukhtar Nouh, a prominent Islamist lawyer, former treasurer of the Bar Association and member of parliament. Two professors from the engineering faculty at Assiut University are also in jail.
Brotherhood leaders insist they are seeking to achieve their goals by peaceful, democratic means, though the government has long suspected it of being a front for more radical, violent groups bent on overthrowing the secular state.
"The security apparatus does not negotiate with the underground Muslim Brotherhood. Our dialogue is limited to official, democratic political institutions that respect legitimacy and the law," one security source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
This current confrontation, according to the same source, is aimed at reining in the Brothers and preventing them from "sneaking into legitimate organisations and syndicates" and infiltrating any state apparatuses.
Technically, any gathering or meeting of members of the Brotherhood is illegal as long as they remain a proscribed organisation.
The most recent arrests follow a spate of less publicised detentions of Brotherhood members in Alexandria, Sharqiya, Giza, Assiut and Cairo governorates, widely viewed as part of the government's overall strategy to cut the outlawed group down to size.
According to security reports, though, the Brothers are continuing political activities, nominating themselves for the forthcoming parliamentary elections, seeking alliances with other political parties, arranging meetings, seminars and issuing statements signed by their leaders. All of which, technically, is illegal.
Computer diskettes seized at the time of the arrest allegedly include details of the group's plans of action in various governorates, as well as the strategies to be adopted in upcoming parliamentary and syndicate elections. They are also said to contain details of the dissemination of the group's statements and literature.
"We are struggling for the sake of our country, for the preservation of human, political and civil rights and legitimacy," said Ma'moun El-Hodeibi, spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood. "We have gone through worse and more fierce clampdowns on the Brotherhood, but we managed to stand our ground," El-Hodeibi added.
El-Hodeibi described the latest arrests as "the continuation of measures taken against us in the absence of any evidence".
The arrests represent the strongest action against the group since 1995 when 80 Brotherhood activists in white-collar syndicates were tried in military courts ahead of legislative elections. The Brothers were ordered to close down their headquarters on Tawfiqiya Street in downtown Cairo at the time. According to security sources, though, "they still meet, and that is why they are always being confronted by security forces".
