From Reuters:
Egyptian police arrest 16 Muslim Brotherhood members
CAIRO, March 13 – Egyptian security forces arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday in a crackdown ahead of an April referendum on constitutional amendments the Islamists say aim to block them from politics.
The arrests followed the detention on Monday of Mahmoud Ghozlan, a senior leader and a member of the group’s executive Guidance Council, hours after opposition lawmakers formally announced their rejection of the amendments.
“This campaign comes as a direct reaction from the authorities to the Brotherhood parliamentarians’ rejection of the constitutional amendments,” Brotherhood leader Mahdi Akef said.
Brotherhood spokesman Abdel-Moneim Mahmoud said those arrested include three local leaders from the Nile Delta and the media adviser of the Guidance Council, the highest body in the group, which operates openly despite being banned since 1954.
The Brotherhood, which rejects violence, is the strongest opposition force in the most populous Arab country. Members running as independents won nearly a fifth of the 454-seat lower house of parliament in 2005.
Analysts say the government fears that unless it stops the Brotherhood now, the group will make more electoral gains that could help it eventually mount a serious challenge to President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party.
The constitutional amendments, which must be approved by parliament before next month’s referendum, would weaken the role of judges in monitoring elections. An anti-terrorism clause would give police sweeping powers of arrest and broad authority to monitor private communications.
The Brotherhood would be hard hit by the proposed laws, which would also ban political activity based on “any religious reference or basis” and would quash the group’s hopes of acquiring legal standing as a recognized political party.
“These amendments will lead to a setback in political life and are a step backwards with their restrictions on public and private liberties,” Akef said in a statement.
Opposition and civil society groups say a requirement that judges supervise elections is one of the best ways to discourage widespread abuses which have marred voting in Egypt.
Mahmoud said at least seven of those arrested on Tuesday had previously spent time in detention or stood trial before military courts. Ghozlan was sentenced to five years in prison by a military tribunal in 2001 but was released in 2005.
More than 300 Brotherhood members are now in detention, including third-in-command Khairat al-Shatir who was referred last month to a military trial along with 39 other officials on charges that include money laundering and terrorism.