Preemptive containment?
Muslim Brotherhood sources tell Omayma Abdel-Latif that the latest government crackdown on the group is meant to preempt possible large scale protests against a war on Iraq
Eleven members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group were arrested on 2 January. Senior group members speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly said that although the recent arrests may appear to be part of the government's routine cat-and-mouse game with the group, they may point instead to what they claim is a more systematic attempt on the government's part to lay siege to and suppress any signs of popular discontent against an impending US attack on Iraq.
Essam El-Erian, secretary-general of the Doctors' Syndicate and a member of the brotherhood's shura council, said the arrests reflect what he dubbed a government policy meant to contain any brewing manifestations of popular anger. "The priority now," he said, "is to obstruct and weaken any movement that could translate popular frustration and anger into any organised form of protest that could spill onto the streets," El-Erian told the Weekly.
One source claimed that this was also the reason behind the recent clamp down on the remnants of the clandestine Jihad group. Dozens of people, accused belonging to the group, were arrested recently. They were also accused of plotting to bomb US and Israeli targets. These security strikes, the source pointed out, are meant to send a clear message to various political forces -- that the government will show zero tolerance when it comes to any attempt to capitalise on regional conflicts to mobilise the Egyptian street against the policy choices the government deems appropriate.
Most of the Brotherhood detainees were arrested at Ibrahim El-Deeb's house in the working class Cairo district of El-Zeitoun, where nine members of the group had gathered on 2 January. Another four were arrested at their respective homes immediately afterwards. The group of detainees includes Tarek Abdel-Gawad, an engineering student, and the grandson of the group's late supreme guide, Mustafa Mashhour.
The charges, routinely invoked against the brotherhood, are all too familiar: attempting to reestablish a banned group, incite violence and influence public opinion in a manner hostile to the government. The rap sheet also includes the distribution of books and leaflets which accuse the government of corruption, and portray it as hostile to Islam. The most serious charge, however, is that the group was allegedly plotting to use regional conflicts -- namely the situation in Iraq and Palestine -- to escalate tension, and mobilise the masses to rebel against the political order.
The police report also notes that brotherhood leaders have emphasised the need to escalate political protests in the eventuality that a war breaks out.
Despite all these charges, authorities can by no means describe this round of arrests as 'a good catch', since all of the detainees are middle to lower ranking members of the group. It is also unlikely, then, that they will be tried before a military court, since, according to the group's lawyer, military courts are traditionally reserved for senior members.
Last week's round up has again raised questions about the complicated nature of the relationship between the government and the country's oldest political opposition force. The government has recently been showing signs of an increasing tolerance for the group's activities: 42 brotherhood members were released by the prosecutor-general earlier last month, preceded by another 66 members released in October by Alexandria's Supreme State Security court. The group was also allowed to stage two public gatherings which drew huge crowds: the funeral of late supreme guide Mustafa Mashhour; and the brotherhood's annual Ramadan gathering. According to the group's lawyer, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, these events were interpreted as signs of a potential reconciliation.
"Things were moving in the direction of a rapprochement," Abdel-Maqsoud told the Weekly on Sunday, "but this round-up has interrupted the process." The arrests also come on the heels of Muslim Brotherhood MP Gamal Heshmat being stripped of his parliamentary seat.
Abdel-Maqsoud disputed the charges filed against the 11 brotherhood members, arguing that the police had not produced any material evidence to support them. "All the books that they seized during the round-up are on the shelves of every library in town. The list [of charges] is redundant. They have been using it for the past 10 years in any case against the Brotherhood," Abdel- Maqsoud said.
The lawyer defended the group's right to meet and convene, a right, which he says, is guaranteed by the constitution. "The law and the constitution have guaranteed the right to meet so long as it is a peaceful meeting and they are not carrying guns," he said.
El-Erian, meanwhile, insists that the group does not act like an underground movement in any way. "We have no secret plans and we don't act like a secret organisation -- our members are known to the public and our goals are clear and well defined," he told the Weekly. El-Erian believes that the mixed signals which the brotherhood has been getting are the result of differing governmental factions being divided about how to handle the outlawed group.
"We had been hoping that the signs of rapprochement which had taken place would sway the government's hawkish factions away from their determination to wipe the group out. Instead, I think that those who advocate preemptive strikes currently have the upper hand over those calling for more of a policy of rapprochement," El-Erian said.
