Egypt detains opposition activists ahead of poll
Middle East editor
Egyptian authorities have rounded up hundreds of members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in a crackdown apparently designed to stop the Islamist movement from taking part in local elections next month.
Reports from Cairo said 54 activists were detained by security agents early yesterday and 64 on Monday, bringing the number to more than 300 in the last few weeks and 750 in recent months, according to Ikhwanweb, the Brotherhood website.
April's elections were postponed twice by President Hosni Mubarak following the Brotherhood's success in parliamentary elections in 2005. Candidates running as independents but identified with the organisation won 88 seats in the 454-seat assembly - a fifth of the total.
Yesterday was the start of a 10-day registration period for candidates wishing to stand in April's polls. "Most of those detained were going to register as candidates," one official said.
The Brotherhood, officially proscribed since 1954, is by far the largest and best organised opposition movement in the country of 77 million. Egypt's ruling National Democratic party represents the regime while a handful of small secular and liberal parties are weak and badly organised - creating what critics warn is a state of dangerous polarisation.
Last week a military tribunal postponed judgment in the case of 40 Brotherhood leaders accused of financing an illegal organisation after more serious charges of terrorism and money-laundering were dropped. Thirty-three of them have been in custody since 2006, while seven others are being tried in absentia, including Khairat al-Shater, a businessman and number three in the Brotherhood hierarchy.
Observers say the authorities appear to want to keep the accused in detention and out of the way during the election period. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have protested that the trial is taking place in a military court and have been denied access as observers.
The Brotherhood insists it wants simply to promote peaceful reform to bring about an Islamic state and tackle corruption. But critics say it cannot be trusted and that its violent past has never been renounced.
The Egyptian government says that in order to become legitimate the Brotherhood should register as a political party, though parties based on religion are constitutionally banned. The game of cat and mouse between the regime and the Brotherhood has been part of Egypt's political landscape for decades. But the current period is one of escalating conflict.
Egypt's 4,500 local councils are responsible for services at a district, town and village level and are vital institutions in a highly centralised state. They also play a key role in presidential elections since any would-be candidate for president must collect the signatures of 250 local council and parliament members to be eligible.
Mubarak, 79, is serving his fourth consecutive term and is widely thought to be preparing to hand power to his son Gamal, a businessman.