Crackdown on Brotherhood

2003-09-11 08:50

Cairo - The Egyptian authorities have launched a new crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood to thwart any protests they may stir up among university students returning to campus, Islamists and analysts say.

A college professor and six other leading Brotherhood members were arrested on Monday, while last month, 11 student members of the movement were arrested, including two distributing pamphlets after Friday prayers in Port Said.

Several of those arrested "were preparing to slip in among the students in the new university year in order to turn the people against the regime on the pretext it has failed to apply Islamic law," a judicial source said.

In June, 11 leaders of the Brotherhood were detained during a a meeting in the Nile Delta town of Mansura.

The supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Maamun al-Hodeibi, said at the time it was the fifth wave of arrests since the end of the war in Iraq, a period during which the authorities launched "interrupted arrests" of his members.

After having often rigidly enforced a ban on public protests, particularly those off campus, the authorities loosened up in March and April and allowed a number of anti-war protests to take place.

The Muslim Brotherhood said at the time they would only attend rallies approved by the government.

Arrests are a warning

The latest arrests "are a warning ahead of the return to classes to prevent the Brothers from showing their support for the Palestinian group Hamas," said Hamdi Hassan, a member of parliament supported by the Brotherhood.

Israeli forces have been striking at the leaders of Hamas, the Islamic militant group in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, which has claimed most of the suicide bombings against Israelis.

"People are wondering why (the crackdown) is happening now when the regional situation should encourage the government and people to pull together," Hodeibi said, referring to the US occupation of Iraq and the Palestinians' plight.

Everything calm

Hodeibi was all the more surprised that these arrests are taking place at a time "when everything is calm (in Egypt), where there are no demonstrations, no activities which could be considered subversive".

Diyaa Rashwan, a specialist in Islamist affairs at the Centre of Political and Strategic Studies, said the arrests were "preventive operations" which take place yearly when students return to class.

Egyptian universities open their doors on September 20.

"The rate (of such arrests) has increased a bit, since the (anti-US attacks) of September, 11 2001, but the principle is still the same," Rashwan said.

The Egyptian government, he added, "is not particularly interested in provoking a crisis" with the Muslim Brotherhood, which calls for an Islamic state using peaceful means.

However, the government is waging a systematic campaign to stamp out clandestine Islamist groups, such as the Gamaa Islamiya, which were responsible for violent attacks in the 1990s.

"That's why the authorities do not go after the symbolic figures (of the movement). The arrests are usually of people of middle age or young people," Rashwan added.

Banned, but tolerated

The movement has been banned since 1954, but many of its activities are tolerated, including humanitarian and social work it conducts at mosques and universities.

The Brotherhood was created in 1928 by the Egyptian Hassan al-Banna and spread to other Arab countries, including Jordan and Syria where it was severely repressed.

The movement is behind 16 deputies in the 454-member parliament, making it the main opposition force in Egypt. They were elected in November 2000 as independents because of the ban on much of the Brotherhood's activities.

- AFP