By Heba Saleh in Cairo
The Financial Times Limited 2007 February 15 2007 20:08
The Egyptian authorities on Thursday detained 73 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned group considered the largest opposition force in the country.
The arrests, in Cairo and provinces in the Nile Delta, are the latest in a campaign against the group which appears aimed at preempting its opposition to constitutional amendments that would change the electoral law and ban the establishment of parties based on religion.
Brotherhood officials also say the government wants to prevent them from taking part in elections scheduled for next May for the Shura Council, the upper chamber of parliament.
A security official was quoted as saying those detained on Thursday are accused of belonging to an illegal organisation.
Despite being banned the group operates openly in Egypt and fields candidates who run as independents under the slogan "Islam is the solution."
It surprised the Egyptian authorities in 2005 by capturing twenty percent of the seats in parliament.
But in recent weeks, Egypt president Hosni Mubarak described the organisation as a threat to national security, and the authorities appear determined to prevent it from building on its gains in the parliamentary poll.
Those arrested on Thursday include three former Brotherhood parliamentary candidates and at least four office managers who work for independent deputies representing the group in the assembly.
Almost three hundred members of the Brotherhood have been held since the latest wave of arrests started in December.
Earlier this month, the authorities referred the cases of forty Brotherhood members to a military court – a move seen as an escalation of the continuing campaign against the organisation.
They include senior leaders and businessman who face accusations of money laundering. The assets of some 29 people linked to the Brotherhood have been frozen.
Press attacks against the group have also intensified in recent weeks. Newspapers close to the government have accused the organisation of preparing for violence since December when students allied to the group staged a military-style parade on the campus of Al Azhar university. They were protesting against the rigging of student union elections.
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