CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood's (MB) Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdy Akef accused the Egyptian government of "madness after the recent detainment of 13 members from the group. In a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera news channel Sunday, Akef expressed his anger at the recent arrests that included four prominent Brotherhood leaders, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, secretary general of the Arab Doctors' Union; Fathi Lasheen, former financial consultant at the Ministry of Justice; Gamal Abdel Salam, chairman of the emergency committee in the Arab Doctors' Union and former Brotherhood candidate in the 2005 parliamentary elections; and Abdel Rahman Al-Gamal, an employee at the Ministry of Education in Gharbeya. "Had I been living in a country that respects its laws and constitution, I would have been able to make sense of what is happening to us [the MB] and would have tried to analyze the situation, but I am living within a political system that has lost it...The Egyptian regime has lost its mind, logic, wisdom and respect for the law, Akef said in the interview. "Egyptian security officials have abandoned their real jobs [to chase criminals] and switched to attacking decent, honorable men, he said, adding that Egypt deserves all the respect but what the Egyptian regime is doing is "disgusting and undermines Egypt's status. However, Akef spoke highly of the Egyptian judicial system, which he described as independent of the government. "The independent and fair Egyptian judicial system will rule in favor of Brotherhood members as it does in most cases involving the group. Akef also wondered what the Egyptian government really wants from the MB. On Monday, the High State Security Prosecution started investigating the four MB leaders. In a related note, the North Cairo Criminal Court released 13 MB members who were detained last May. The detainees were accused, but found innocent of money laundering and terrorism-related crimes.
