Brotherhood leaders grounded

2008-11-24 18:23

Cairo - Cairo airport authorities prevented two leading members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood from travelling to Syria to attend a pro-Palestinian conference, the Islamists said on Monday.

Essam el-Arian and Gamal Hishmat were travelling with a delegation of opposition members and activists to attend a meeting in Damascus on the return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

"I was prevented on Saturday from going to Damascus, and no reason was given to me," Arian said.

Airport authorities allowed the rest of the delegation, which included another high-ranking Brotherhood leader, to depart.

"Egypt has become a large prison for me," said Arian, who spent five years in jail in the 1990s for membership of the Brotherhood.

Hishmat, a former parliamentarian, has been denied permission to leave Egypt 12 times despite obtaining court orders allowing him to travel, the Brotherhood said on its website.

Officially banned by the government, the Brotherhood is Egypt's most powerful opposition group and its candidates won a fifth of seats in 2005 parliamentary elections.

Police have arrested dozens of its members in raids this year.

- AFP