Egypt detains 17 Brothers
2006-08-19 20:58
Cairo - Egyptian security forces detained 17 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood on Saturday.
The organisation is the country's strongest opposition movement.
Security sources said the Brotherhood members were arrested at a home in the Manoufiya province north of Cairo.
They said authorities had found anti-government books and pamphlets in the home.
A spokesperson for the Brotherhood said those arrested were on a private visit to the home of another member.
He said the latest arrests meant that 87 Brotherhood members were currently being held in Egyptian jails.
The arrests come days after a Cairo court overturned a decision to release two Brotherhood leaders, detained during anti-government protests in May, and ordered them to stay in jail for 15 more days.
"These arrests come as a message from the regime to the Brotherhood indicating that the period of relative calm, which didn't last but a month, has ended," said lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud in remarks published on the Brotherhood's website.
The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned in Egypt. But members elected as independents hold 88 seats in the 454-seat parliament.