Jailan Halawi writes on the latest arrests in the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood, which their leaders describe as the government's "hot pursuit" policy against the group No matter how adamantly the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders portray their group as a viable political bloc seeking to achieve its goals only through peaceful and democratic means, the government remains equally determined to view the Brotherhood as a front for more radical, violent groups bent on overthrowing the state. On 4 June, 12 members of the banned but sometimes tolerated group were arrested purportedly for holding an "illegal" organisational meeting in Menoufiya, 60 kilometres south of Cairo. Suspects were referred instantly to the state security prosecutor in Cairo and remain in custody pending interrogation. Among those detained are Ashraf Badreddin who was a candidate in the 2000 parliamentary elections as well as several university professors, medical doctors and engineers. Seven of the detainees were reportedly arrested at the alleged "illegal" organisational meeting held at university professor Omar Makram's house, considered one of the group's top ranking leaders in Menoufiya, while the rest were detained at their homes. At the time of the arrest, police said they seized the group's publications which advocated its thinking and methods of action. They also alleged the group was attempting to circumvent the law and infiltrate professional associations in the Delta in order to exert more control and influence within them. According to the group's leaders interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly, these arrests are a continuation of measures taken against the group -- which "in the absence of any evidence" boils down to the usual charge of belonging to a banned group and holding an illegal meeting. However, according to a top ranking security official speaking to the Weekly on the customary condition of anonymity, "the Brotherhood leaders know that their activities are banned yet they continue doing it -- the government does not haphazardly hunt [political] groups, and it is obvious that we pay all due respect to official, democratic political institutions that respect legitimacy and the law." The recent arrests of Brotherhood members follow a spate of detentions in Cairo, Alexandria and Damanhour and are widely viewed as part of the government's overall strategy to cut the outlawed group down to size. The first wave of arrests started early in January this year when 13 Brotherhood members were detained in Zaytoun district in Cairo. There was a brief halt to the crackdown against the group during the US-led war on Iraq, and at a time when the Egyptian streets were already fuming. Nonetheless, very shortly after the fall of Baghdad on 9 April, 10 members of the group were arrested in Damanhour, 140 kilometres northwest of Cairo. The men were apprehended at the home of one of the detainees on suspicion of attempting to revive the activities of the banned group. According to police reports, the suspects were in possession of books and leaflets containing material that undermines the state's stability. Eleven other members of the group -- including Sobhi Saleh the undersecretary of the Alexandria Bar Association, former MP Mohamed Hussein Eissa, 80-year-old imam Mahmoud Shukri, as well as several doctors and engineers -- were arrested on 21 April. They all face the same charges as the previous group. The arrests, according to security officials, are aimed at reining in the Brothers and preventing them from "stealing into legitimate organisations and syndicates" or "infiltrating" state bodies. Since the group is banned, the source added, "any gathering or arranging of meetings, seminars and issuing statements of its members is technically illegal as long as the group remains a proscribed organisation." Political analysts interviewed by the Weekly opined that the aim of the arrests is to send a message to the Brotherhood and other political forces "confirming the state's categorical refusal" to grant Islamists any legal existence on the political scene. Since 1994, the state has deployed a "preemptive strategy" in dealing with the Brotherhood. This strategy according to political analyst Diaa Rashwan, of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, "is based on directing successive strikes of varying intensity against the Brotherhood to disrupt its ranks and to ensure that the bulk of its energy is channelled into self-defence, not into planning for its regular participation in public life in general, and specifically in the political scene". Since the arrested are mostly prominent middle-ranking leaders within the Brotherhood, observers believe the state aims at "clipping the wings of the elements most capable of planning and directing political battles". While some press reports link the arrests to the group's voiced opposition to last week's Sharm El-Sheikh Summit, believing it to have angered the government, Ma'moun El-Hodeibi, the group's Supreme Guide denied such links. According to El-Hodeibi, the group's position was in line with the popular stance against the summit. "We are struggling for the sake of our country, for the preservation of human, political, civil rights and legitimacy, we've gone through worse and more fierce clamp-downs, but we managed to stand our ground," El-Hodeibi said. The Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest Islamist group in the Arab world. Despite the fact that it has been officially banned since 1954, analysts view it as Egypt's largest opposition bloc. Founded in 1928 by Hassan El-Banna, the group's conflict with the state dates back to the early days of the 1952 Revolution, when, according to the government, the Brotherhood began to use violence in pursuit of its political goals. The government also believes that most -- if not all -- of Egypt's militant Islamist movements emerged from under the Brotherhood's cloak, a charge that the Brotherhood has consistently denied.
