Category: Blog

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:

UPDATE: Thousands of Al-Azhar students demonstrated today against the kidnapping of 180 student activists by State Security. Photographer Nasser Nouri was there.