Brotherhood members detained
2005-05-23 11:09
Cairo - Egyptian prosecutors ordered on Monday 15-day detentions of 25 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the most senior leader arrested in nearly a decade, who were swept up in a crackdown ahead of a referendum they say would lead to sham elections.
The detention order is intended to allow time for further investigation into activities of the 25, picked up in Sunday dawn sweeps. They are accused of belonging to an outlawed group and possessing and preparing to distribute leaflets urging Egyptians to boycott Wednesday's referendum.
Prosecutors' orders ensure Mahmoud Ezzat, No 4 in the Brotherhood hierarchy, and the 24 others will be behind bars while Egyptians decide whether to accept changes to the constitution that would allow for the country's first multi-candidate presidential election in September.
Government opponents, including the Brotherhood, say the new system is being set up to ensure President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party still controls the election outcome.
Mubarak, president for the past 24 years, has been regularly re-installed in yes-no referendums in which his name is the only one on the ballot. He hasn't formally announced he will run again, but is widely expected to do so.
Protests demanding greater political reform, many of them led by the Brotherhood, have been staged in Cairo and around the country in recent months.
More than 800 other members of the popular and powerful Brotherhood, which calls for the peaceful installation of an Islamic state, remain in custody as a result of this month's protests. Hundreds more have been arrested and released.
The Brotherhood, founded 1928, has been banned since 1954 but tolerated. Fifteen Brotherhood supporters sit as independents in parliament, the largest opposition bloc. But Mubarak has vowed not to allow any religious-based parties to seek office.
- AP