Cairo: The recent government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood is an attempt to distract public opinion from proper constitutional reform, Gamal Nassar, media advisor to the Muslim Brotherhood's (MB) Supreme Guide, told The Daily Star Egypt. Nassar said: "Constitutional reforms are coming, and the regime is trying to use the MB to distract people in order to pass shady laws. The latest crackdown saw the arrest of three businessmen and two owners of publishing houses with ties to the Brotherhood on Sunday in dawn raids, according to media reports. Also arrested were 20 employees of one of the publishing houses. "The arrests were conducted in a barbaric fashion, and there is no proof of any allegations. They are all honest people and good citizens. It was an aggressive assault on the publishing house and their money was confiscated, Nassar said. According to the Associated Press news agency, the businessmen arrested were owner of Al-Hayat pharmaceutical company Mohammed Hafiz; Ahmed Shousha, who owns a construction company; and Hassan Malik, owner of an import and export company. The other two detainees were Aktham El-Taweel, the owner of El-Bashair publishing house; and Ahmed Ashraf, director of the Islamic House for Publication and Distribution. Nassar added: "This is a message to the Brotherhood to stop calling for reform. The regime doesn't want reform. It sees no one but itself and listens only to itself. Concerning any opposition, there is no dialogue, only arrests and smear campaigns in the media. We refuse this, and will continue our path in a peaceful manner. Hoda Rezkanna, ex-NDP MP and Deputy President of the Dialogue and Participation Forum, begs to differ. She refutes the Brotherhood s claims that this crackdown was an attempt to avert attention from political reform. Why should they distract from something they are about to do? Reform will be there for all to see, it will happen. This claim indicates that they are smart because they want to hang this all on the government. Yet this is a lousy way to cover their ideas, she told The Daily Star Egypt. Recently authorities had arrested 140 members of the outlawed group, including financier and chief strategist of the group Mohammed Khayrat Al Shater. This was in response to a military-style parade by Al Azhar University students affiliated with the group during demonstration. The student martial arts show raised concern over whether the Brotherhood was creating a military wing. Rezkanna believes that this crackdown was triggered by this militia-style parade. This is the kind of picture they want to deliver as a message to society. But this militia presentation is dangerous. There are ways to solve this, we need to solve it in a political and social way; we need to understand what attracts youth to these groups, she said. Rezkanna also believes that the significance of the Brotherhood is overplayed. She said: We are giving them too much attention, I don t think they influence Egypt that much. There is an exaggeration in the media which is giving them a heroic size. They are not representative of Egyptian society, she said. The reason they claimed seats in parliament is because religious discourse appeals to vulnerable groups. They call themselves the Muslim Brotherhood, yet we are Muslims. You have to consider others opinions for the good of all people, and not just your group. On the other side, Deputy Supreme Guide of the MB Mohammed Habib had previously told The Daily Star Egypt that the crackdown was an unjustifiable aggravation by the regime. He said that the act would "increase tensions and complications in light of Egypt's current circumstances and this will intensify things on all levels, be they political, economic or social.
