[On Wednesday, authorities arrested more than 30 Brotherhood members on
charges of organizing unauthorized protests regarding the Israeli siege on
the Gaza Strip. About 500 people have been arrested in the protests.]
Municipal elections have been postponed since 2006. The regime of
President Hosni Mubarak was said to be determined to prevent a Brotherhood
victory in wake of the significant gains by the Islamic opposition in the
Egyptian parliamentary elections of 2005. The Brotherhood, running as
independents, controls more than 20 percent of parliament.
In late January, security forces detained at least 29 Brotherhood
politicians. They included two candidates for parliamentary elections as
well as Ibrahim Zaafarani, secretary-general of Alexandria's Medical Union.
The two candidates were identified as Saad Sayed and Mahmoud Awad, vying
to fill two vacant parliamentary seats in Alexandria. They were both accused
of belonging to an illegal organization.
Islamic opposition sources said municipal elections have been targeted
by the Mubarak regime. They cited a constitutional amendment passed in 2005
that required independent presidential candidates to win the support of
municipal council members.
In a separate development, Egypt was said to have arrested and tortured
three Algerian professors. The three Algerians, suspected of links to Al
Qaida, were in Egypt on a training course.
"We are depressed and we demand that authorities open an investigation
on these arrests," Saad Merabat, one of the professors, said. "We also
demand an official apology from Egypt."
