Tag: عصام العريان

State Security police bar Dr. Essam from traveling

Posted on By 3arabawy

State Security detained him for over six months despite court orders for release. They tried unsuccessfully to put him under house arrest. Now, they are banning him from traveling outside the country.

Egypt bars senior Brotherhood member from Qatar trip
by Aziz El-Kaissouni
CAIRO, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Egyptian security forces barred a top member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s strongest opposition group, from traveling to Qatar on Tuesday, security and Brotherhood sources said.
Essam el-Erian, who heads the Brotherhood’s political department, said airport authorities told him they had been instructed by State Security officials to stop him from traveling.
Erian, who was recently released after more than six months in detention, was scheduled to travel to Qatar to attend a conference that brings together nationalist and Islamist activists from around the Arab World.
While his passport was initially stamped, airport officials told him they would carry out further checks, later informing him that he would not be allowed to leave the country.
Erian said he and other members of the Brotherhood had in the past successfully sued to have their names removed from the government’s no-travel list, but were still often barred from travel.
“Occasionally they’ll let me through, and occasionally they’ll stop me. But I no longer have the desire to seek their permission every time I want to travel … there’s no legal basis for this,” Erian said.
An Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment.
In the past two months, several members of the Brotherhood have been banned from travel, and in November Al Jazeera television’s Cairo bureau chief was also barred from travel to Qatar and briefly detained.
On Saturday, Egyptian prosecutors ordered the detention of scores of Brotherhood members for 15 days for questioning in connection with a protest march at al-Azhar University in which several dozen Islamist students wore black militia-style uniforms and black balaclavas.

Essam and Mursi released, but face threat of house arrest

Posted on By 3arabawy

Dr. Essam el-Erian and Dr. Muhammad Mursi have been finally released today from prison, but they were put under house arrest by the State Security Prosecutor.

I spoke with Dr. Essam an hour ago, to tell him “Kaffara ya doctor.” He said he will be standing in court tomorrow 10am at the Tagamou’ el-Khames Court, where he’ll contest in front of a judge the house detention order.

UPDATE: The court lifted the house arrest:

Two top Muslim Brotherhood leaders freed in Egypt
By Cynthia Johnston
CAIRO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – A Cairo court on Sunday set free two leading members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood detained since anti-government protests in May, overruling a move by prosecutors to keep them under house arrest.
Essam el-Erian and Muhammad Mursi were the two most senior Brotherhood officials in detention. Erian is the head of the group’s political department and Mursi is a leading Brotherhood politician.
Judicial sources and the Brotherhood said the men were released from prison late on Saturday following a decision by prosecutors, but they were to be kept under house arrest.
On Sunday, the Brotherhood challenged the house arrest and a court ordered it to be lifted. Mursi, speaking to Reuters shortly after the court ruling, said the decision to cancel the  house arrest was “an achievement for the Egyptian judiciary”.
“This decision (to release us) should have been taken months ago,” he said. “The case that we were subject to contained no serious accusations. It was a political case of the first degree.”
Although officially banned, the Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt’s strongest opposition movement. Members elected as independents hold about one-fifth of seats in parliament, which is dominated by President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.
Erian and Mursi had been held since they were arrested in May during protests in support of Egyptian judges demanding greater independence from the executive.
Political analysts said the move by prosecutors to impose house arrest appeared to be an unsuccessful attempt to find a loophole in Egyptian law that would help authorities to maintain restrictions on detainees even after their release.
While prosecutors may renew detentions every 15 days, they cannot generally do so indefinitely and detainees must eventually either be put on trial or set free.
Indefinite detention is generally reserved for detainees viewed as security threats.
“I think they were giving it a good try to establish this precedent of house arrest,” said Muhammad el-Sayed Said, deputy director of Egypt’s Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
“I have never heard of this practice before of the government putting someone under house arrest … Fortunately it wasn’t (successful). It is an obvious infringement of fundamental human rights.”

Essam and Mursi’s detention renewed

Posted on By 3arabawy

In what more or less has become a routine, Mubarak’s regime decided to extend the detention of two Muslim Brotherhood activists I respect. They had been arrested around six months ago for leading demonstrations in support of judicial independence from Mubarak’s executive authorities.

I’m really saddened by this, and even more upset that the MB is mobilizing tens of thousands on university campuses against Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni’s remarks about the veil, and NOT mobilizing for their detainees.

The detention of two senior members of Muslim Brotherhood renewed for more than 2 weeks
By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Two senior members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood who have been in prison for six months have had their detentions renewed for more than two weeks, police and group Web site said.
Essam el-Erian and Mohammed Morsi, who were jailed for organizing pro-reform protests in May, had their detentions extended for 15 days on Saturday, said police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The two are leading members of Egypt’s largest Islamic political organization and were among more than 500 members detained by authorities in May when several demonstrations were held in support of two reformist judges facing disciplinary action.
In August, a lower court ordered the release of both men after they spent three months in jail without being charged. However, two days later, a higher court overhauled that verdict, and they remained in prison.
El-Erian, a former lawmaker, also was arrested last year for five months during a wave of anti-government protests but was released after Egypt’s presidential elections in September.
Morsi is a member of the Brotherhood’s political bureau and formerly headed its bloc in parliament.
The Brotherhood, which is formally banned but somewhat tolerated, won nearly a fifth of the parliament in last year’s elections, making it the largest opposition group.
Founded in 1928 and banned since 1954, the Brotherhood is believed to have tens of thousands of followers.

عصام العريان (ريشة فتحي أبو العز)