Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood leaders

The Egyptian government has upped its security crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, arresting 9 members of the banned moderate Islamic group on Sunday, local media and the group said. They were all arrested within a 24 hour period.

According to government-run media, three members were detained in Alexandria for “their attempt to revive the group’s activities, promoting wrong ideas and possession of publications containing beliefs that would endanger social peace.”

A Brotherhood official told Bikya Masr on Monday morning that the arrests are “part of the government’s scare tactics ahead of parliamentary elections this November and we will not be thwarted by their security threats.”

The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said that “the members who were arrested will be a spark point to get more people to support our cause.”

All 9 Brotherhood members were handed 15-day prison sentences after being officially charged with belonging to a banned political organization.

The group said that Egyptian police raided the members’ homes across the country and took many books and personal computers.

The ministry of interior declined to comment on the matter.

Despite the government’s opening of the political make-up of the country in recent years, the Brotherhood remains banned and barred from political work, but its members ran as independents in the 2005 parliamentary elections, securing nearly one-fifth of the seats.

The Brotherhood is the largest and most popular opposition group in Egypt, but has faced continual crackdowns from security since winning the share of parliament.

Rights groups condemn the Egyptian government’s treatment of the Brotherhood, calling on Cairo to end its detaining of members and have demanded a complete opening of political opposition in the country.

This series of arrests comes only weeks ahead of an expected announcement from the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) of whether parliamentary elections will occur this October or November.

The opposition, despite the arrests and security’s heavy hand in politics, have largely called for a boycott of the parliamentary vote. However, the Brotherhood has yet to make a decision on whether they would boycott the election.

A handful of MB members have said that since the opposition continues to be divided over the boycott, they may field candidates to run as independents and encourage Egyptians to go to the polls in the upcoming vote.

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