The Muslim Brotherhood is in the midst of the harshest security clampdown it has faced in a decade, the group's deputy supreme guide tells Amira Howeidy If you had expected the office of the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide to include a picture or replica of the Holy Kaaba you will be disappointed. There are, however, two images in the modestly furnished space that stand out for their contemporary relevance. The first is a large map on the wall titled "Our Islamic Nation". It displays -- in shades of green -- Muslim populations around the world. The outcome is an impressive green carpet that stretches from East Africa to Sinkiang in Far East Asia. The second is a colourful replica of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Palestine, placed on a side table. Seven months ago pundits, both here and elsewhere, were marvelling at the "astonishing" success of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in the November parliamentary elections. Despite government attempts to stop their advance the "outlawed" group won 88 seats in parliament, i.e. 20 per cent of the total. The debate became even more lively when, in January, the Islamic Palestinian resistance movement Hamas won 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council. The floodgates opened, and the Western press devoted acres of space to articles, columns and analyses on the significance of the electoral success of Islamic groups. It was in Washington, though, that crucial questions were raised. Was the US administration ready to deal with Islamic groups? Would their rise to power have a restraining effect on their radicalism? The answer to the first question, at least, may be inferred from recent events in Egypt, where 645 Muslim Brotherhood members, including six leading figures, have been arrested over the last two months. They are being held in Tora and Wadi Al-Natroun prisons. Over 500 of the detainees were arrested while participating in peaceful demonstrations in solidarity with two judges who were being tried for exposing vote rigging in the parliamentary elections. The detainees are accused of congregating in groups of more than five, prohibited under the emergency law, of promoting sensational and false allegations that mislead public opinion, of obstructing traffic and insulting the president. The remaining detainees were arrested at their homes, offices and at a summer camp. They face charges of belonging to an illegal organisation. According to the group's lawyer, Abdel-Meneim Abdel-Maqsoud, the security forces arrested some of the detainees in terrifying house raids. In one case the police broke down the door to the apartment of Ahmed Selim, a university professor and MB member, though he was not home during the raid. The latest in the series of security clampdowns targeted a group of 31 Muslim Brothers participating in a summer youth camp in the coastal city of Marsa Matrouh. Some of the detainees are as young as 18 years old, says Abdel-Maqsoud. The arrests, says the group's Deputy Supreme Guide Mohamed Habib, signal that the regime is hardening its stand towards the Muslim Brotherhood. They are reminiscent of the 1995 clampdown when the group's Downtown headquarters was forced to close and 27 members were tried before military courts. Habib attributes government actions to "fear and panic" within the establishment following the Brotherhood's election success. "Because the government sees us as the only viable alternative to the [ruling] National Democratic Party it is targeting key figures in the Brotherhood." They include Essam El-Erian head of the MB's political section, Rashad Bayoumi and Mohamed Mursi members of the MB's Guidance Bureau, the highest body in the group's hierarchy , Ibrahim El-Zaafarani, secretary- general of the Doctors' Syndicate in Alexandria, Hassan El-Hayawan, a university professor and Brotherhood leader, and Helmi El-Gazzar, secretary-general of the Doctors' Syndicate in Giza Each arrest, and each time a prominent figure is sent to jail, is intended to send a different message to the group, says Abdel-Maqsoud. "Rashad Bayoumi's arrest in March was a message from the government that it would not change its policy towards the Brotherhood despite its elections success. The youth camp arrests were to let the Brotherhood know that such activities won't always be tolerated, and that they're keeping an eye on us." The clampdown, argues Habib, is not a purely domestic matter. The Palestinian elections, he says, demonstrated how, in the "right climate", Islamists can win a majority in parliamentary elections. "This is an indication that they are capable of coming to power, which is disturbing for [Arab] regimes and for the Zionists... they see not only Hamas, but the Muslim Brotherhood, as a national security threat." Which is why, says Habib, the Egyptian government extended the emergency law for another two years and postponed municipal council elections in an attempt to prevent the group from making further gains. "At the same time," he adds, "they're antagonising and alienating significant social sectors, including university professors, journalists, political parties and the judiciary." "I believe," says Habib, "that the succession issue [of Gamal Mubarak] and preparing the stage for this is the cornerstone in all this." Despite Gamal's repeated statements that he does not seek, or want, to succeed his father, the opposition, especially the MB, is sceptical. Habib points to Gamal Mubarak's visit to the White House in May. "He got the green light for Egypt to pursue its repression and discontinue with political reform as long as it performs its allotted role on the Palestinian, Iranian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Syrian and Lebanon fronts," says Habib. "They want to take us back to square one."
