Egyptian Police Crack Down On Muslim Brotherhood Before Elections

From The Los Angeles Times and Alliance Defense Fund:

Egyptian police crack down on Muslim Brotherhood before elections


The opposition group says more than 1,200 members and supporters have been arrested. Internal divisions could also hurt the movement in Sunday's parliamentary vote.

November 23, 2010
By Amro Hassan and Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Cairo — Its members handcuffed and taken to prison, the Muslim Brotherhood is facing an extensive police crackdown that appears certain to weaken the standing of Egypt's largest opposition group in Sunday's parliamentary elections.



More than 1,200 Brotherhood members and sympathizers, including eight candidates for parliament, have been arrested in recent weeks, the organization says. Most were reportedly detained in the governorate of Sharkeya in the Nile Delta, an Islamist stronghold characterized by poverty and frequent tensions.





"The regime is sending a message that there will be no elections," Saad Katatni, a leading Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker, said in a news conference Monday condemning government attacks on opposition voices.



Marches organized by movement members to support the group's candidate in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria were broken up over the weekend by security forces using tear gas. The state-run MENA news agency reported that more than 100 Brotherhood members were arrested in the scuffles.



Although top members of the group allege that the government is crushing their campaign efforts, Alexandria's police chief told Al Shorouk newspaper that Muslim Brotherhood supporters had blocked the city's traffic and violated electoral rules by chanting religious slogans, including its outlawed mantra, "Islam is the solution."



The intimidation of opposition candidates and pressure against the banned group, whose members run as independents, have led to criticism of the Egyptian government from Washington and human rights groups, including Amnesty International. Egyptian authorities bristled at a recent suggestion from the U.S. government to allow international monitors to observe the elections, calling it interference in an internal matter.



The Muslim Brotherhood is the most potent force against President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, which maintains that the organization embodies extremism. In 2005, despite arrests and purges, the group won a record 88 seats, or nearly 20%, in the 454-member parliament. That is unlikely to be repeated as the organization, which years ago renounced violence, is running fewer candidates and is expected to lose at least half its seats.