EGYPT:EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES have rounded up hundreds of members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in a crackdown apparently designed to stop the Islamist movement from taking part in local elections next month.
Reports from Cairo said 54 activists were detained by security agents early yesterday and 64 on Monday, bringing the number to more than 300 in the last few weeks and 750 in recent months, according to Ikhwanweb, the brotherhood's website.
April's elections were postponed twice by president Hosni Mubarak following the Muslim Brotherhood's success in elections in 2005. Candidates running as independents, but identified with the organisation, won 88 seats in the 454-seat assembly - one-fifth of the total.
The brotherhood, officially proscribed since 1954, is by far the largest and best-organised opposition movement in the country of 77 million.
Mr Mubarak (79) is serving his fourth consecutive term and is widely thought to be preparing to hand power to his son Gamal, a businessman.