Brotherhood member arrested
2005-11-04 20:19
Cairo - A member of an outlawed opposition group who is running for a seat in Egypt's upcoming parliamentary elections was detained on Thursday on accusations of stealing religious alms to supplement his campaign spending.
Essam Mokhtar, a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was later released after appearing before the prosecutor-general on Thursday evening for interrogation, as about 1 000 Brotherhood members staged protests outside.
"Police told him that some people said he is using alms money in election campaigning, which is baseless," said Mokhtar's spokesperson, Mohammed el-Kassass.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak to the press, said the arrest came after the imam of el-Fateh mosque, where Mokhtar was distributing the alms, filed a complaint accusing Mokhtar of embezzlement.
El-Kassass said 10 plainclothes policemen arrested Mokhtar following noon prayers while he was discussing the distribution of alms inside a mosque.
Protesters chanted slogans calling for Mokhtar's release on Thursday night. "Patience, patience, oh Essam. Victory will be for Islam!"
Tensions between parties
Mokhtar is a first-time candidate for a parliamentary seat in the Nasr City constituency, an upper middle-class district of Cairo.
El-Kassass accused the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of filing the complaints against Mokhtar to clear the way in front of their candidate.
"It's obvious that the NDP fears the popularity of the Brotherhood candidate," he said, adding that local authorities this week removed Mokhtar's campaign banners but left the NDP candidate's banners untouched.
Following hours of interrogations, the prosecutor-general cleared and released Mokhtar after he provided documents proving no alms money was missing.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned for decades in Egypt but still runs candidates as independents in elections, is making its most assertive push yet in this month's elections, which begin on November 9 and are held in three stages. The group is fielding 130 candidates for parliament's 454 seats.
The group snatched 15 seats in 2000 parliament elections, more than the rest of all opposition groups altogether.
- AP