CAIRO: Following the release of 453 Muslim Brotherhood prisoners around two weeks ago and 269 last week, families of the remaining Islamists still behind bars have been staging protests and calling for the release of “their loved ones.
Families of around 20 detained “Muslim activists have been staging protests in front of the National Council of Human Rights; protests often monitored by riot police. Veiled women, some adorned completely in black, stood holding banners and calling on the rights group to fight for their case; requesting the release of “those activists who according to the families are “detained without cause or guilt.
Directly following the protests, the rights group published a report calling on the government and the Egyptian prosecutors’ office to “immediately release the prisoners. The National Council said that these and similar arrests are but a result of the emergency law that is still in effect and needs to be retracted in order for true democracy to have a chance.
During last November’s violence-marred parliamentary elections, more than 150 Muslim Brotherhood candidates ran in the elections as “independents, refusing to merge with other blocks of the opposition. The candidates gained unprecedented ground as the number of seats they held increased, enabling them to form the largest opposition cluster the Egyptian parliament has seen in decades.
However, hundreds of the Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested during riots and protests. The Brotherhood members were blamed for taking part in the violence-marred clashes that occurred during voting; sometimes in front of ballot stations and as the votes were counted. Reportedly, some were also arrested during clashes with police.
Many of the senior Muslim Brotherhood members and leaders denied taking part in any violence, saying that in some cases their supporters and sympathizers were either “brutally attacked or “provoked into clashes by National Democratic party thugs as police “stood by watching.
The official Muslim Brotherhood Web site, Ikwan-Web, said that the arrests were only part of “tactics used by the ruling government to crush their popularity and the swelling support for their parliamentary candidates. According to the site, “The second and the third rounds of the November vote saw a wave of arrest campaigns . In order to stamp out the great vote showing of the group.
The site also reported that 293 members have been imprisoned in what they called “the notorious Borg-Al-Arab prison, in the absence of charges and without a trial. Additionally, according to the online source, around 160 members and supporters have been detained in Cairo under interrogation.
Last January, following several rowdy protests by members of the Brotherhood, the Ministry of Interior released most of the prisoners. Nevertheless, according to the Muslim Brotherhood’s principal lawyer, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud, a group of members remain behind bars without charge. “Only hope remains that these flocks of the brothers will be treated like [the others] and released soon, said Abdel-Maksoud.
“The problem is that the prosecution constantly renews the detention period for these remaining members in particular, Essam El-Erian, senior Brotherhood leader and group spokesman told The Daily Star Egypt. “Renewing detention is equivalent to imprisonment . There are cases of such people who have been detained, through a similar fashion, for years. Some are even banished [after recurring detention]; where their families and no one would be able to know anything about them or their whereabouts.
According to El-Erian, the main charges against the currently detained are “protesting and persistence to vote.
“Because they wanted to vote for their candidates but were blocked from the ballot stations, clashes occurred and they were arrested, said El-Erian who insisted that the detained should be released, like the rest of “the Brothers, in the course of a few weeks.
