Brotherhood vows more protests

2005-05-09 15:26

Cairo - Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood vowed on Sunday to continue staging demonstrations despite the detention of hundreds of the Islamist movement's supporters in a police crackdown last week.

On the steps of the journalists' union, some 200 group members and supporters called for the release of the detained, shouting anti-government slogans amid a heavy security presence. The protesters, who were joined by members of the pro-democracy Kifaya movement, chanted anti-regime slogans.

In the Munufiya province, thousands participated in a Brotherhood rally demanding more freedoms and the release of the detainees.

Egypt's largest Islamic group, which has been demanding political reforms in Egypt, says police detained more than 2 000 of its supporters during nationwide protests held on Wednesday and on Friday.

Police said they have arrested only 750, including four leading members, and have ordered 617 of those detained for an additional 15 days without charge for further investigations.

Leading member charged

Prosecution officials said on Sunday, one of the detained, leading member Essam el-Erian, was charged on Saturday with belonging to the leadership of a banned organisation, possessing pamphlets with the Brotherhood's ideologies and prepared for distribution, calling for protests and inciting sedition.

The Brotherhood, which has been banned since in 1954, renounced violence years ago, but its leader said it will keep staging protests seeking political reform from the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, leader since 1981.

All we want is "freedom"

"We are not getting into a confrontation, but we will hold demonstrations soon demanding change," Mohammed Mahdi Akef said. "We want nothing but freedom, if freedom is absent, everything else is."

"Demonstrations are one of various kinds of expression we could use," he added without elaborating.

The demonstrators in downtown Cairo likened the Egyptian president to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying both are oppressors.

Dia'a Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on Islamist movements, said all opposition forces have realised "the political system is being reshaped in Egypt, and unless they put their foot down, the shape won't include their goals and status".

A catalyst for the demonstrators has been Mubarak's surprise call for multi-candidate presidential elections to be held for the first time in September. Mubarak, 77, hasn't announced if he will run for a fifth term, but is widely expected to do so. The president has said no religious-oriented political parties will be allowed to compete.

Meanwhile, the opposition al-Ghad party — headed by Ayman Nour — said it was pulling out of a national dialogue on political reform between opposition parties and the ruling National Democratic Party.

- AP