Government acts as Brotherhood attempts to create new political party CAIRO: The latest crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) aims to deal a blow to the outlawed organization's financial muscle, according to a recent article that appeared in Al Ahram daily newspaper. Six senior members - the most prominent of them Mohammed Ali Bishr from the MB's Guidance Office - including three businessmen, were detained for belonging to an illegal organization and possessing MB literature. Previously, the ministry of interior had ordered the arrest of chief MB financier Mohammed Khayrat Al Shater, as well as businessmen Mohammed Hafiz, owner of Al-Hayat pharmaceutical company; Ahmed Shousha, who owns a construction company; and Hassan Malik, owner of an import and export company. Gamal Nassar, media advisor to the MB's Supreme Guide, told The Daily Star Egypt that this heightened crackdown on the organization was an attempt to deflect attention from the upcoming constitutional amendments. "The most recent arrests are unjustified. I believe the reason behind them is to justify constitutional amendments that will lead to the inheritance of power. They [the government] have no intention to reform, he said. The latest arrests come on the heels of the MB's declaration that it plans to set up its own political party, something they cannot do at the moment since they are branded a "religious organization. Nassar added that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) wants to turn all opposition bodies into "cartoon cut-outs . The NDP's proposed amendments will make it almost impossible for the Brotherhood to field candidates for office, something the 88 MB members of the current People's Assembly (who ran as "independents ) are aiming to rectify. The Brotherhood MPs are attempting to pass a law that will circumvent the political parties committee of the Shura Council, the upper house of Parliament, which they deem unconstitutional and which is dominated by the NDP, according to Nassar. Nassar also told The Daily Star Egypt that if the MB proposal passes, they will create a political party, an idea they had attempted in the past. Nassar said, "The Brotherhood is always accused of not having a political program and we have answered this. We want to propose a program and offer it to the people. We cannot do this at the moment because the political parties committee is unconstitutional and run by the ruling party. Hoda Rezkanna, ex-NDP MP and Deputy President of the Dialogue and Participation Forum, had previously refuted to The Daily Star Egypt the idea that the government was aiming to distract from the upcoming amendments by cracking down on the MB. "Reform will be there for all to see, it will happen. This claim indicates that they [the MB] are smart because they want to hang all this on the government. Yet this is a lousy way to cover their ideas, she said. The Deputy Supreme Guide of the MB Mohammed Habib told The Daily Star Egypt in a previous interview, that these crackdowns will not discourage the group. "We will not waver, we will continue to agitate for change and reform through constitutional channels, he said.
