CAIRO: The 15 Muslim Brotherhood leaders detained earlier this week are facing a new set of charges, including forming training camps to launch attacks. The group's deputy leader Mohamed Ezzat and members of the Guidance Office Essam El-Erian and Abdul-Rahman Al-Barr are accused of setting up a body aligned with the thinking of former Brotherhood member, Sayyed Qotb, who was executed in the 1960s and whose ideas have inspired militants. They are also facing charges of belonging to a banned group that is jeopardizing state security and disrupting social peace. Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, the group's lawyer, said the detainees are not giving any statements during the interrogations by state security since "it is obvious that they have already made their verdict, which is to detain the group for 15 days pending investigation. He also pointed out that there is possibly a link between the recent intense crackdown on the group and the parliamentary elections set to take place later this year. Last Monday, state security arrested 15 prominent MB leaders including Ezzat, El-Erian, Al-Barr and other senior officials of the group nation-wide. One of the detainees, Mohamed Saad Elewa, suffered a heart attack while being transported in a state security vehicle, he was then transferred to the Heart Institute in Imbaba. In a press statement, Amnesty International called on Egyptian authorities to "stop their crackdown on peaceful political dissent and uphold the rights to freedoms of expression, association and assembly in Egypt. They also called on authorities "to uphold their international obligations to safeguard the rights to freedoms of expression, association and assembly, and in particular to end the pervasive practices of administrative detention and trying civilians before military courts. The organization also calls on the UN Human Rights Council, due to scrutinize Egypt's human rights record on Feb. 17 in the framework of the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review, to give attention to the Egyptian authorities' continuing misuse of emergency powers to quash opposition at home.
