Two members of an Egyptian opposition party were arrested from their homes just before dawn Thursday for hanging posters of opposition politicians, a member of their party said. The detentions came amid an escalating confrontation between Egypt's opposition and security forces ahead of parliamentary elections this spring and fall and next year's presidential elections. Police detained Nasser Salah and Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, two members of the opposition el-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party from the Nile Delta province of al-Beheira, the German Press Agency (dpa) was told. Ahmed Milad, of the el-Ghad party, told dpa that the two men had hung posters and stickers of el-Ghad Party leader Ayman Nour, former UN nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, and opposition politician Hamdeen Sabbahi. Milad said police released Salah after an hour, but were still holding Abdel-Aziz. Nour recently announced he would campaign in the 2011 presidential elections, despite being legally forbidden to do so following his 2005 conviction for forging signatures in support of his presidential bid that year. Sabbahi, a former member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), has for years unsuccessfully campaigned to get legal recognition for his el-Karama (Dignity) Party since leaving the NDP. Milad said the stickers were part of the Ghad Party's campaign to encourage people in al-Buhaira to support political change and reform.
