CAIRO: A travel ban was imposed on newly elected Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badea's, almost two weeks after he was appointed, according to the group's lawyer.. Barring Brotherhood MPs who enjoy parliamentary immunity such as MP Mohamed Saad El Katatney and MP Saad El Husseiny, members of the newly-elected Guidance Office were also placed on the travel ban list. "This is a violation of the law; the ban was imposed by the Minister of Interior but it is only the Prosecutor General who is authorized to issue such bans, said Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, the group's lawyer. On the same day, in what the Muslim Brotherhood described as an "unprecedented move, State Security closed 612 cases that were initiated against nearly 10,000 members of the banned group over the past 20 years. The cases were not referred to court after the prosecution completed its interrogations. Other cases that were referred to a military court were not closed, however. Abdel Maqsoud explained that the decision is attributed to the Egyptian Judicial System, meanwhile strongly denying that the group has struck a deal with the government. On the other hand, Badea' has continued appointing new officials, including Gomaa Amin Abdul Aziz, Rashad Al-Bayoumy and former Secretary General Mahmoud Ezzat as his deputies. Khayrat Al-Shater, who is currently serving a prison sentence, will also maintain his position as deputy. Although Badea' is the official spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, he appointed Mohamed Morsi, El Katatney and Essam El-Erian as his auxiliary spokesmen. The government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has intensified with the arrest of many of its members; which has taken its toll on their political presence in a year of parliamentary elections. In 2005, fielding candidates as independents, the group won 88 seats, nearly one fifth of the seats in parliament. Expert on Islamic movements, Diaa Rashwan, from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, doesn't expect the Muslim Brotherhood to have a strong participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections, whether it's the People's Assembly or the Shoura Council. This is due to the fact that the current leadership is not really "politically enthusiastic and this could lure the group away from political activism to focus on religious and social work instead. "The biggest challenge for the Muslim Brotherhood in the coming period is to change the perception that the current leadership is conservative by becoming more involved in the public sphere as he is now focusing only on the internal politics of the group, Rashwan explained.
