| Submit your comments on this article |
| North Africa |
| Egypt Arrests 14 Suspected Islamist Activists |
| 2003-01-02 |
| Egypt on Thursday arrested 14 suspected members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest opposition force in the Arab country, police and sources in the Islamist group said. Ten men were seized while meeting in a Cairo suburb and the others were taken from their homes around Egypt, Islamist lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud told Reuters. Police said the detainees, mainly university professors and lawyers, include Tarek Abdel-Gawad, the grandson of the group's former leader Mustafa Mashhur, who died in November. One detainee, Ahmed Mahmoud, served three years in prison after a 1995 trial of dozens of suspected members. Since the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities, Egypt has stepped up its crackdown on the Brotherhood, seen as the biggest opposition movement in Egypt. The group, which the government says is a front for Islamic militants, wants to implement Islamic law by constitutional means. The authorities officially banned it in 1954. The Egyptian government wouldn't mind them so much if these guys weren't trying to overthrow them. Only one autocratic regime at a time. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 "Ahmed Mahmoud"? That's not an assumed name? C'mon! |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-01-02 11:02:14 |
| #1 his mother named him after his father's alias |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-01-02 12:28:28 |