• March 7, 2006
  • 5 minutes read

New Arrests in Giza

New Arrests in Giza
In a new episode of the unjustified escalation policy against the Muslim Brotherhood, the security forces launched a new campaign of arrests on sunday’s dawn. Three of the Muslim Brotherhood’s activists in Giza were detained: Dr. Ezat Sabry, Engineer Anuor Shaltot, and Mr. Osama Rafat. In addition, security forces stormed and closed the Muslim Brotherhood’s bureau in Alexandria. 
 
These crackdowns followed a wave of arrests and home assaults targeted fifteen of the Brotherhood’s leaders and members, Dr. Rashad El-Byoumy, an academic professor and a member of the MB’s Supreme Council comes on the top.
 
In exclusive statements to Ikhwan Web, Ali Abdel Fatah, a prominent leader of the MB in Alexandria, said security forces raided the Brotherhood’s Administrative Bureau in Alexandria and shut it down. At the heels of its major success in the parliamentary polls picking up 88 seats, the Egyptian regime seeks, via these procedures, to affirm the illegality of the Muslim Brotherhood and that it is still banned.
 
Abdel Fatah asserted that the security campaign against the group has two axes. The first aims to detain the Muslim Brotherhood’s symbols, El-Byoumy for example, to imply that members of the MB’s Supreme Council, its Executive Bureau, are not excluded from crackdowns. The second is to shut down the institutions and centers that represent the group’s ideology
 
Although Egypt has recently witnessed a political stir, sharp setbacks were remarked concerning the issue of civil liberties and reform in the few past weeks. More alarmingly, Egypt saw some recent events that endanger the political life; detentions come back, four justices face investigations, and attacks on demonstrators reappear.
All these indications illustrate that the issue of reform is currently on hold.