CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have arrested 62 young Islamists on charges of belonging to an organized militant group, a charge they deny, their lawyer told AFP on Wednesday.
Montasser Al-Zayat said the students were rounded up in various parts of Egypt over the last three months, accused of plotting to blow up a lobby group run by Egyptian-American sociologist and rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim.
A security source told AFP that authorities were only holding 12 Islamists from a group called Al-Takfir wal Hijra (Excommunication and Exile) on suspicion of belonging to a secret organization.
However, according to Zayat, while the men hold salafist jihadi ideas and harbour strong anti-American sentiments, they do not belong to any organized group.
Maybe they should have their ears pinched, but not ripped off altogether.
He said there were at least four cases in the last six months of Islamists being detained, with some reportedly tortured in detention.
The behavior of the authorities is what will lead these types of young men to rebel and become serious extremists, he said.
The detentions coincide with a wider government crackdown against dissent which has targeted journalists, rights activists and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.
The clampdown prompted Ibrahim, a dual US-Egyptian citizen who was sentenced in 2001 to seven years in prison for tarnishing Egypt s reputation to leave the country fearing arrest. He was eventually acquitted on appeal.
Ibrahim was also arrested in 2000 after publishing a critique of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his government. He served 10 months in jail.
Mohab Zaki, of the Ibn Khaldun Centre, said the centre had not taken any new security precautions following news of the alleged plot.
The Ibn Khaldun Centre is constantly attacked in the media, accused of pushing the US agenda, insulted on a regular basis, he told AFP.
