MB candidates condemn regime’s foul play in the run up to elections

Muslim Brotherhood MPs attended a conference hosted by the Lawyers Syndicate Freedoms Committee, objecting to the continued harassment by security forces and  the obstacles they had to overcome in order to obtain candidacy applications.

According to Mohamed Beltagy, secretary general for the group’s parliamentary bloc, seven MB members were unjustly detained in the Qalyubiya governorate illustrating the regime’s repression.

Beltagy maintained that security forces raided his home, while governorate authorities distributed spiteful flyers focused on his candidacy. He stressed that the measures taken by the regime indicated that the upcoming poll will lack integrity.

Incidents of harassment reported at the conference included security forces preventing MB candidates from communicating with their constituencies despite other candidates being permitted to do so. Authorities justified the move claiming the campaign process had yet to commence.

Sayed Gad, MB candidate for Matareya, Cairo, stressed that security agents raided a number of stores owned by his supporters confiscating goods worth tens of thousands of Egyptian pounds.

Top MB defense lawyer, Abdel Monem Abdel Maqsoud, reported that to date the number of members currently detained has now reached 361, and is still rising. He added that 106 Brotherhood-owned businesses have been shut down with 1650 false police complaints filed against other Brotherhood-run enterprises.