At dawn, State Security agents kidnapped at least 180 Muslim Brotherhood students from Al-Azhar University, and arrested senior leaders from their home, including the all-powerful Khairat el-Shatter, the deputy head of the group’s Supreme Guide.
The crackdown comes following a campaign by the state-owned press against Al-Azhar MB students, who held a demo that included a group of masked MB activists who performed a martial art show during the demo, with bandanas written on it, “Samedoun” (Steadfast). The demo had been organized to protest the expulsion of student activists who were part of the Free Student Union.
I totally object to this media witch-hunting, and see the whole “militia” affair to be exaggerated out of proportions.
1- It’s not the first time the MB activists hold similar parades. These have been common since the outbreak of the intifada. Some of these demos (that had the masked martial arts students) had taken place with permission of the security services to defuse dissent on campus.
2-It is ludicrous to assume these pathetic masked kids are part of a “militia” or a new secret organization. The Brothers are NOT involved in terrorism anymore. While Mubarak loves to accuse them of terrorism during interviews with Western press outlets, not a single terror case featured a MB member. And knowing how Mubarak handles terror suspects, we could have expected the MB to be butchered by now (and ho ho believe me, there are those in the security services who would love to do it.) if they possessed a single bullet.
3-The tradition of activists wearing masks during demos is not solely limited to the MB. I’ve seen many Socialists and Nasserists doing it before, for the sake of protecting their identity from the State Security photographers and informers who are present in demos.
4-The MB kids’ parade simulated a HAMAS parade in Palestine… What’s the big deal? The Palestinian intifada is a inspiration for activists in the region, whether it is Islamists or Leftists… but that does not necessarily mean they wanna simulate their tactics. Does wearing a Che Guevara shirt mean you wanna grab an AK-47 and shoot the police?! For many here in the region (secularists or Islamists), Hamas and Hezbollah fighters are the Arab Guevaras. It’s common to see students and random citizens wearing shirts that celebrate the two organizations.
5-Those who have made it their cause to expose the MB “Masked Militia” should worry more about the State Security Masked Militias. Don’t State Security officers bring with them a platoon of masked Special Forces soldiers, armed with machine guns, whenever they raid homes of unarmed activists to arrest them, causing terror in the entire neighborhood?! That’s the “Masked Militia” the press should be worried about, not the pathetic Karatae Kids the MB has.
Here’s a report by journalist and friend Ali Zalat about today’s arrests:
الشاطر.. الرجل الحديدي في الإخوان و الممول الأبرز
كتب / علي زلط
في تطور خطير لتصاعد الأزمة بين الأجهزة الامنية وجماعة الإخوان المسلمين شنت قوات الأمن فجر الخميس 14-12-2006 حملة اعتفالات موسعة شملت المهندس خيرت الشاطر النائب الثاني للمرشد العام والمهندس أيمن عبد الغني زوج ابنة الشاطر والقيادي في قسم الطلاب بالجماعة، والمهندس ممدوح الحسيني من إخوان القاهرة و180 من طلاب الإخوان المسلمين المقيمين في مدينة الصفا الجامعية بينهم أمين الاتحاد الحر بجامعة الأزهر صهيب الملط ونائبه أحمد الصنهاوي ولم يتم حتى الآن حصر أسماء المعتقلين
و صرح مصدر مقرب من عائلة المهندس خيرت الشاطر بأن قوات الأمن صادرت 3 أجهزة كمبيوتر تخص عائلته و مبلغا ماليا يقدر ب60 ألف جنيه إضافة إلى أجهزة محمول زوجته و زوج ابنته المهندس أيمن عبد الغني الذي قبض عليه في نفس الوقت من منازلهم الكائنة في ضاحية مدينة نصر.
و على الصعيد ذاته أكدت مصادر طلابية في جامعة الأزهر أن عدد الطلاب المعتقلين وصل إلى 180 طالبا جرى اقتحام مبناهم السكني في مدينة الصفا الجامعية و تأكد ان بينهم الطالبي صهيب الملط أمين عام إنحاد الطلاب الحر بجامعة الأزهر و أحمد الصنهاوي الأمين المساعد .و آخرين .
و أضافت المصادر الطلابية بأن سلطات الأمن هاجمت ثلاثة شقق سكنية طلابية في الحي العاشر بمدينة نصر (شرق القاهرة) واقتادت 8 طلاب على الأقل ،بالتزامن مع حملة الإعتقالات الموسعة التي طالت ثالث رجل في الإخوان وعدد من الناشطين والطلاب .
و ترددت أنباء عن اعتقال طلاب آخرين أثناء قضائهم عطلة نهاية الأسبوع في محافظاتهم الأ صلية خاصة الشرقية و وردت أنباءعن اعتقال اثنين من اعضاءهيئة التدريس بجامعة الأزهر إلا أنه لم يتسنى حتى الآن التأكد من صحة هذه الأنباء
يذكر أن حملة الاعتقالات الجديدة تتم بعد حملة إعلامية واسعة شنتها وسائل إعلام وصحف مصرية على جماعة الإخوان المسلمين، متهمةً إياها بالعنف عقب استعراض شبه رياضي قام به طلاب ملثمون أمام مكتب رئيس جامعة الأزهر ضمن اعتصام نظم للاعتراض على فصل 5 طلاب من الجامعة ينتمون للإخوان المسلمين، وقال طلاب الإخوان أن اللقطات التي بثتها وسائل الإعلام على أنها عرض عسكري لملثمين لا تتعدى مشاهد تمثيلية قام بها بعض الطلاب في جامعة الأزهر.
وتأتي هذه الحملة في أعقاب ثلاثة أيام من الإفراج عن الدكتور محمد مرسي عضو مكتب الإرشاد والدكتور عصام العريان القيادي في الجماعة.
UPDATE: Thousands of Al-Azhar students demonstrated today against the kidnapping of 180 student activists by State Security. Photographer Nasser Nouri was there.
Dear Hossam, you overlooked an important aspect. Many suposedly independent and opposition writers joined this campaign against the ‘brotherhood militia,’ some wondered where they were trained and which entity trained them! This silliness included papers that pass among us as respectable, most notably the articles which appeared in al-Masry al-Yawm, and Amro Adeeb in Orbit, who was ringing the alarm bell and almost calling for serious end to this dangerous militia. Many more are complicit than you propose; it is not just the state. This camp includes also more or less the same people who are siding with the March group in Lebanon. I guess it is itme for polarization and those who are in the middle of the road to rush behind the state. I wish them exactly what they deserve and they will get it for sure. If justice doesnt make them pay for this one day, the system that they are encouragin now will get them for sure. May they dwell ever in the security paradise that they are now planting!
Well look why simulating the Arab Guevaras is a problem:
Gunbattle prompts Gaza crossing shutdown
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 33 minutes ago
RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Hamas militants, angry that Israel had blocked the Palestinian prime minister’s return to Gaza, burst into the Rafah border terminal Thursday and engaged in a gunbattle with guards before it was closed.
After dark, two loud explosions rocked the area and police said militants blew a hole in the border fence about a half-mile from the crossing. More gunfire was heard, as witnesses said Hamas gunmen were firing at the Egyptian side, drawing return fire from Egyptians and presidential guards from the rival Fatah movement.
Look Hamas and Fatah have been at each other’s throat for a long time, I think both are stupid for pointing their guns at the wrong people. As for Militias for the MB’s I doubt it, if they wanted militias they would have had 24 million armed Egyptians which would put all other militias to shame. But these are just demonstrations as for the ones in the idiot box such as this adeeb guy (when did he ever become that important?) he is nothing he is a nobody his big fat brother funds him and he is very regime friendly as for Rose-alyoussef and the rest of the government mouth pieces think of it as foxnews of Egypt. I don’t think they are militias and even if they are good for them its time to stop the government violence against peaceful demonstrators or have you forgotten what happened to the women in those demonstrations by the so called “Police”.
Yes, he is indeed state freindly, but also US friendly and Suadi friendly. But he is not alone in this. Most of the so called ‘independent’ newspapers are even more friendly than them. Many people buy into what they say because they thought that covering things like the elections and conveying what one judge says here or there. I find it silly that I need to remind a lot of people that I talk to about where these new press gurus were during the intifada and the war the invasion of Iraq and who owns which newspaper, how these papers systematicaly cover the issues that are not sensational in ways that normalize exactly what the ruling elite and their imperialist allies want, and the like. To be breif, i was waiting for this to happen and I hope it uncovers many masks. Enough of this ‘let’s trust the new press;’ there is nothing new about it; it is very old. Would we be allowed to register a dialy paper like Salah Diyab the big business tychoon who ownes Al-Masry AL-Yaym? Can we launch an indpendent radio channel? The simple answer is never. Then why are these people allowed to do so? Why are they given inside stories from the ruling elite about new developments a couple of days before they occure? The explanation that we are supposed to reach is that they achieve this because they have exceptional reporters!
What happened to the Ikhwan was staged, and the so called ‘new press’ is complicit, and I expect a lot of this in the near future. They beefed them only to use them. People have to see this and have to know why these public opinion making channels were allowed to prosper in an environment that does not allow anybody else to operate legally.
You guys seem to think that “all is fair in love and war”. Just because the MB is anti-government doesnt necessarily make them any better than the government. Personally, I believe it is time Egyptian people had more freedoms, but with these freedoms they have to step up to their responsibilitym not just as Egyptian citizens, but as Global Citizens. Do you know how one little “show” like the one above does to the Egyptian Economy? Any investor looking from the outside world is going to run the opposite direction.
Everyone has the right to their opinion, but their rights end where the tip of my nose begins. And I really do not like this MB business. Why should I feel threatened in my own country, by people who take the guise of religion to better their own financial and social standing?
Do people who feel the same as me need to participate in anti-MB protests, maybe wearing some form of militia garb and perform martial arts? There needs to be some balance here, dont you agree?
Actually, we need to demand that the rule of law is applied fairly and equally on everyone in this country. Law. But that demonstration is Anarchy.