Security forces took the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood by surprise this week arresting several of the group's leading figures, reports Gamal Essam El-Din On Sunday morning security forces detained Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, a senior member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood's Executive Guidance Bureau and secretary- general of the Union of Arab Doctors. Supreme State Security Prosecution sources say Abul- Fotouh, generally thought to be on the moderate wing of the Brotherhood leadership, could face charges of conspiring with foreign extremist organisations, including the Lebanese-based Shia party of Hizbullah. They claim Abul-Fotouh led a cell that received instructions from Hizbullah. "The orders focussed on staging streets protests in Egypt and other Arab countries and forming jihadist cells to go to Gaza to receive military training at the hands of the Palestinian Islamist movement of Hamas," say sources close to the investigation. It is also alleged that Abul-Fotouh, in his capacity as director of the foreign operation unit of the Brotherhood's International Wing, received funds from Hizbullah that were then directed towards financing the Brotherhood's activities in Egypt. Between 1 and 4 May, say investigators, the Brotherhood obtained 2.7 million euros from sources in Lebanon. "The money was transferred into the account of Al-Sabah Money Exchange Company without notifying the Central Bank of Egypt [CBE] or CBE's Anti-Money Laundering Unit," a prosecution statement said. The statement also indicated that the investigation will cover allegations that Abul- Fotouh and other Brotherhood members collected more than four million pounds sterling from various sources, purportedly to help Palestinians in Gaza, "in breach of military orders which makes it illegal for anyone to solicit donations without first receiving a government licence." "The police have strong evidence that the money collected to help the Palestinians was used to fund the Brotherhood's activities in Egypt." Police investigation reports say the UK-based Society of Islamic Daawa (which is affiliated to the Brotherhood) collected more than two million pounds sterling in January under the pretext of helping the Palestinians. "The money was then used to fund the group's activities in Egypt," say police sources. Abul-Fotouh was first arrested in 1981 and tried by a military tribunal. In 1996 he was re-arrested and remained in prison for five years on charges of belonging to an outlawed group. In Sunday's dawn raids security forces also detained Fathi Lashin, a former legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice and an expert on Islamic finance, and Gamal Abdel-Salam, head of the Emergency Relief Committee of the Union of Arab Doctors and a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the 2005 parliamentary elections. Abdel-Salam had been detained in December on charges of forming a jihadist cell linked to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, only to be released on 5 February. Sunday's arrests also included Osama Suleiman, owner of Al-Sabah Money Exchange Company, Abdel-Rahman El-Gammal, a Brotherhood leader from the Nile Delta governorate of Gharbiya and Osama Nasreddin, a member of the Executive Guidance Bureau. Security forces also closed down three foreign exchange companies with links to the Brotherhood and a research centre. The daily Al-Ahram revealed two weeks ago that the Interior Ministry could ask parliament speaker Fathi Sorour to strip Brotherhood MPs Hussein Ibrahim and Saad El-Husseini of parliamentary immunity so that they, too, can be interrogated over their suspected involvement in obtaining money for the group and seeking to revive its international wing. Though it has been banned since 1954, the Muslim Brotherhood is the largest opposition group in Egypt. During the 2005 parliamentary elections members of the Brotherhood, running as independents, secured 88 seats in the People's Assembly. Security analysts see the latest crackdown on the group's leaders as part of the Ministry of Interior's ongoing campaign to starve the Brotherhood of funds. Two years ago two of the Brotherhood's wealthiest tycoons, Khairat El-Shater, the supreme guide's first deputy, and Hassan Malek, who owns a major furniture company, were sentenced to five years in jail. The Brotherhood reacted furiously to the arrests. Mahdi Akef, the group's supreme guide, told the Qatari-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera that the charges levelled against Abul-Fotouh and others were "baseless". In a statement issued on Sunday the Brotherhood underlined that the arrests had taken place on the same day Cairo's Criminal Court ordered the release of 13 senior members of the group accused by prosecution authorities of money laundering. "The arrests reflect the regime's determination to isolate the Brotherhood from political life to pander to Israel and America," the statement claimed. The Cairo-based Union of Arab Doctors issued a statement regretting the arrests and urging the release of Abul-Fotouh and Abdel-Salam. Hamdi El-Sayed, chairman of the Doctors' Syndicate and a member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), says the arrest of Abul-Fotouh could harm Egypt's image in the Arab world. Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud argues that the judgement ordering the release of 13 senior members of the group charged with similar offences shows that the accusations levelled against Abul-Fotouh and others do not stand up to scrutiny. Abul-Fotouh refused to succumb to prosecution investigation on Monday, insisting he enjoys the diplomatic immunity of the membership of the Union of Arab Doctors affiliated to the Arab League. Diaa Rashwan, a researcher with Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, sees Sunday's crackdown as part of the ongoing game of cat and mouse between the regime and the Brotherhood. "The security forces always keep an eye on the Brotherhood and are keen to deprive it of the financial resources to pursue its agenda." Rashwan expects that the clash between the security forces and Brotherhood will intensify over the next year as the group prepares to contest the Shura Council and People's Assembly elections scheduled for 2010 and the presidential elections in 2011. Many observers have tipped Abul-Fotouh to succeed Mahdi Akef as the Brotherhood's supreme guide.
