Egypte

Egyptische politie mishandelt demonstrant.

Het door de VS gesteunde corrupte Moebarak-regime heeft de Egyptische oppositie weer eens gemaltraiteerd. Met een kwart van alle arabieren is Egypte het meest bevolkingsrijke arabische land, het culturele centrum ook van de arabische wereld, waar elke 8,5 maand een miljoen inwoners erbij komen.

'Egyptian police detain 75 members of Muslim Brotherhood

CAIRO, Egypt: Police arrested 75 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday, in what appeared to be a pre-emptive strike against the country's largest Islamic group ahead of elections and a key parliamentary debate, a police spokesman and the Brotherhood said.
A Brotherhood executive said the detentions risked provoking violence — not from the group itself, but from those who would infer the state was leaving no scope for peaceful Islamic political activity.
The arrests bring the total of Brotherhood members in custody to just under 300, according to figures provided by the group and the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's strongest opposition group and although it has been banned since 1954, the group is tolerated within strict limits and suffers regular police crackdowns.
Police did not give a reason for Thursday's early morning detentions, but those arrested were mostly Brotherhood members expected to stand in the April elections for the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament, as well as assistants to the group's legislators, said Abdel Gelil el-Sharnoubi, the editor of the Brotherhood's Web site.
El-Sharnoubi said the group had not yet chosen its candidates for the Shura polls, but that the authorities targeted "figures who are popular in their provinces and are expected to run the elections."
The Brotherhood did surprisingly well in the 2005 legislative elections, winning 88 seats in the 454-member parliament. The government then postponed the 2006 municipal elections for two years, apparently out of fear of more Brotherhood gains.
Brotherhood candidates stand as independents in elections but their campaigns are financed by the group and voters know their allegiance.
"They also arrested a number of legislators' assistants in order to paralyze the lawmakers," el-Sharnoubi added.
President Hosni Mubarak has asked the legislature to amend 34 articles in the constitution as part of a political reform package.
The opposition has criticized the amendments as doing little to advance democracy. One amendment would ban the formation of political parties with a religious foundation — a restriction clearly aimed at the Brotherhood.
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a Brotherhood executive, acknowledged that the crackdown would impede the group's ability to campaign.
"There is no doubt about that. Those who have been arrested are national, reputable people," he said on Al-Arabiyah satellite TV. '

Lees verder: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/15/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Brotherhood-Arrests.php