Egypt renewed the detention of 22 members of an outlawed group accused of training men to overthrow the government, a security official and a leading Muslim Brotherhood member said. The detainees were among 60 Muslim Brotherhood members who had been arrested or surrendered since May 16. They were later charged with sending men to Iraq, Chechnya and Palestinian territories to undergo training with a view to overthrowing the Egyptian government. Egypt’s prosecutor-general on Sunday renewed the detention of 22 members. The detention of 37 detainees was renewed for 15 days Saturday. Under emergency law, in effect since 1981, authorities enjoy wide powers to arrest and detain defendants indefinitely. One of the detainees, Akram el-Zoheiri, died in custody last week.
| I never liked him anyway... |
The Brotherhood accused the government of negligence and lack of medical care and Egyptian human rights groups said he died from torture.
| Bet he died better than his victims did. |
The Interior Ministry said el-Zoheiri died while receiving treatment for a broken pelvic bone.
| Slipped on a bar of soap in the shower, did he? |
| Either that, or that was a really big banana they stuck up his butt... |
Ali Abdel-Fattah, a leading Brotherhood member, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the proscutor-general has prevented a fact-finding parliamentarian committee from completing its investigation about torture in Egyptian prisons. It was not immediately possible to reach the prosecutor-general’s office for comment.
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