Tuesday, November 11, 2008

EGYPT: Islamists Hounded, On Campus and Off

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

"CAIRO, Nov 10 (IPS) - Candidates associated with opposition movements, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, were reportedly barred from participating in last month's student union elections in universities across Egypt. Recent weeks have seen dozens of Brotherhood members detained.....

Efforts aimed at hindering the Brotherhood's activities have not been limited to college campuses. Throughout Egypt, the group's more senior cadres, too, have been subject to a wave of arrests in recent weeks.

Late last month, police arrested 32 of its members for attempting to deliver a convoy of medical supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip through Egypt's flashpoint Rafah border crossing. Most recently, on Nov. 8, police detained another 25 Brotherhood members in the Nile Delta on charges of "belonging to a banned group."

"Such arrests are nothing new," said Hassan. "The regime has always persecuted and detained anyone that opposes it."......"

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