Brotherhood leader arrested

2005-05-06 14:25

Cairo - Egyptian security forces arrested a prominent figure of the Muslim Brotherhood, two days after mass demonstrations swept main towns of the country calling for reform, a movement source said on Friday.

"Issam Aryane was arrested and his house was searched on Friday by police," said the Islamist group's spokesperson.

Aryane is a leader of the movement, which has been banned since 1954 but still ranks as Egypt's leading opposition force and is stepping up its demands for reforms ahead of presidential and legislative polls.

He is also the official spokesman of the movement's supreme guide, Mohammed Mehdi Akef.

The spokesman did not say why Aryane was arrested, while police declined to confirm or deny the arrest.

Police reported 400 arrests in the past few days across the country with 350 Muslim Brothers subsequently placed in preventive detention for 15 days for having violated a ban on street protests and allegedly "wounding several officers and soldiers".

The Brotherhood said as many as 1 546 of its followers had been arrested, but without giving details on the number of those placed in preventive detention.

The movement also called for more demonstrations on Friday starting from several mosques in the capital, in solidarity with the Palestinians.

- AFP