4 Muslim Brotherhood Members Released

Alexandrian Court of Appeals released four of Alexandria Muslim Brotherhood leaderships who were detained while participating in the demonstrations for backing judges in their struggle for a judiciary reform. The members released included Dr. Ibrahim el Zafarani the secretary general of Alexandria Doctors Syndicate and the MB administrative bureau member, as well as three others in the same case, who were awarded several 15-day extensions of detention and were only released after the recent amendments introduced in the Provisional Detention Law reducing the period of provisional detention from six to four months. However, detention was extended for another five MB Alexandria leaderships who were detained from their homes Friday May 26, 2005, two days before the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce elections which flared up after the Ikhwan decided to field members as candidates in these elections. This is the first time since the commencement of the Chamber of Commerce 55 years ago that the Muslim Brotherhood has fielded candidates in these elections. The Muslim Brotherhood candidates complained that the Security agencies meddled with the election process in favor a specific state backed list especially after the MB list has come to gain ground and the electorate merchants showed support of their list of candidates.