Islamist arrests

ELEVEN members of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood group were arrested on Monday, including Sobhi Saleh, the under-secretary of the Alexandria Bar Association. Also arrested were former MP Mohamed Hussein Eissa, 80-year-old prayer leader Mahmoud Shukri, several doctors and engineers.

The arrests took place in the coastal city of Alexandria as part of security forces' continuous clampdown on the group. Reports said the suspects were transferred the following day to the State Security Prosecutor's Office for interrogation, but no further details were announced. However, according to sources close to the investigation, suspects will be remanded in custody for 15 days pending interrogation, as is customary in such cases.

Another roundup took place later in the week when the State Security Prosecutor ordered the detention of 10 members of the clandestine Muslim Brotherhood who were subsequently arrested in Damanhour, 140 kilometres north- west of Cairo. The men were apprehended at the home of one of the detainees on suspicion of attempting to revive the activities of a banned group. According to police sources, they were in possession of books and leaflets containing material that undermines the state's stability.

The suspects face charges that include belonging to an outlawed group whose activities contravene the constitution, attempting to revive the activities of a banned group, recruiting new members, as well as attempting to undermine the stability of the state.

Although banned since 1954, the Muslim Brotherhood has a peculiar relationship with the government; while the government tolerates the group's activities at times -- allowing it to stage public gatherings -- it often launches crackdowns against its members. Nevertheless, the group is the oldest and largest opposition group in the country, founded in 1928 by Hassan El- Banna.

Media targets

IBRAHIM Nafie, chairman of the Press Syndicate and head of the Arab Journalists Union, strongly condemned the attacks against Arab journalists in Iraq and the Palestinian territories by the US and Israel respectively. Nafie's statements came at a roundtable discussion held this week at the Press Syndicate in collaboration with the Arab journalists and lawyers unions. The discussion dealt with the killing of journalists in Iraq and how to protect reporters and censure aggressors.

Nafie described such attacks as blatant violations of human rights and international law, adding that the issues raised by the US-British war against Iraq require more than condemnations of the acts against Arab journalists and media personnel.

Sameh Ashour, head of the Bar Association, expressed solidarity with the Press Syndicate and the Arab Journalists Union in seeking the help of an international judicial body to defend journalists against threats of murder. "It is a war crime, pure and simple," Ashour said.

For his part, the Secretary- General of the Arab Journalist Union Salaheddin Hafez noted that the killing of journalists in the line of duty is considered an act of war against the freedom of the press and the search for truth.

Solidarity call

IN SOLIDARITY with Iraqis, the Secretary-General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Riyad Jarjour called on Christians in the Arab world to refrain from celebrating Easter. The MECC is a regional organisation based in Beirut, Lebanon, with 28 member churches representing most of the estimated 15 million Christians in the Middle East and North Africa.

"How can we celebrate Easter while the Iraqi people are still burying their dead and binding the wounds of their children in the aftermath of the war waged by the Western coalition?" Jarjour told the Middle East News Agency (MENA), Egypt's official news agency. Jarjour also called for a quiet observance in solidarity with the grief of the Arab world over the events in Iraq and in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Crystal clear

OFFICIALS at Cairo International Airport wrapped up a campaign on Sunday to correct spelling errors on Arabic and English signs throughout the airport. An airport official conceded that the signs, meant to give directions to travellers, had been replete with grammatical and spelling mistakes. According to the person charged with finding and correcting the errors, "even words in the signs welcoming visitors to the country were misspelled".

Airport officials had received numerous complaints to this effect. A total of 65 signs were corrected.

Compiled by Jailan Halawi

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 24 - 30 April 2003 (Issue No. 635)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/635/eg1.htm