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Egypt Arrests Muslim Brotherhood Leadership



Jan 28, 2011 3 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt rounded up members of the Muslim Brotherhood including at least eight senior leaders of the group ahead of planned countrywide protests on Friday, a lawyer representing the detained men said.

Lawyer Abdel-Moniem Abdel-Maksoud said at least eight senior figures had been held in raids in the early hours of Friday, including spokesmen Essam El-Erian, Mohamed Mursi and Hamdy Hassan.

“The reason is of course known: it’s what is expected to happen tomorrow,” he said.

A security source confirmed that authorities had ordered a crackdown on the group overnight: “We have orders for security sweeps of the Brotherhood,” the source told Reuters.

The Muslim Brotherhood has not been behind three days of protests by youth angry at poor living standards and authoritarian rule, but many followers of the group are expected to join demonstrations on Friday after weekly prayers.
The government has issued warnings to youth demonstrators not to allow the Brotherhood to use protests for what the authorities described as its “hidden agenda.”

Opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei and others say the government uses its Islamist opposition as an excuse for authoritarian rule.

Activists have called for the biggest demonstrations yet on Friday after three days of protests inspired by the demonstrations that toppled the leader of Tunisia this month.


  • http://www.nyagwoka.wordpress.com gibson

    Good to learn about Egypt arrest.Tell pps to keep peace

  • http://joetote'sblog joetote

    You know, it just dawned on me! Could all the turmoil we are seeing in Muslim countries be an offshoot of perceived weakness on the part of the United States and her allies! I for one have always felt this President is firmly on the side of the Muslim world as a whole. Certainly he is the most antagonistic President as in his stance on Israel I have ever seen. As we now are at the point in which we have elected officials telling the Muslim world this country is full of racist hate and an administration that in almost every stance is extremely ” Anti-American ideals” why should one be surprised that these radical Muslim Fundamentalists are taking their shots now? After all, the administration only yesterday as an example declared the Egyptian government was stable. No surprise from the blind mice running the show in D.C. now is it?

  • http://www.modwar.blogspot.com Joe Six-Pack

    This is ‘change’, as our President said that he would deliver. We don’t know how this will turn out, but I find it very unlikely that the ‘change’ in Egypt will be in our (United States) best, long term interests.