"The arrests remained until the U.S. waged its war on Iraq, " Fotouh

By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Cairo Staff

CAIOR, April 23 (IslamOnline.net) – The latest wave of arrests of some leaders of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood opposition group have nothing to do with the meetings with some representatives of European Embassies in Cairo, Dr Abdul Mon'eem Aboul Fotouh, a prominent leader of the outlawed group, denied Tuesday, April 22.

"The arrests remained until the U.S. waged its war on Iraq on March 20 and were resumed after the war had come to an end," Fotouh told IslamOnline.net, accusing some government officials of "trading at the expense of national unity."

He said the arrests never stopped regardless of the three-week "respite" during  the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, pointing to the murky relationship between the Egyptian government and the Muslim group, over the past few years.

"The horror campaigns targeting political intellectuals will only do harm to the country rather than benefit it," he said, calling for an immediate halt to the arrests and bridging the yawning gab between the government and different political powers in Egypt.

Egyptian official sources, who requested anonymity, told IslamOnline.net that the "underground" meetings held between the outlawed group and representatives of European embassies in Egypt – chief among which Britain, Sweden and Switzerland - were the main reason of the latest round of arrests.

The sources said Director of Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies (ICDS) Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim called – after being acquitted of all charges by Egypt's Court of Cassation on March 18 - for a meeting on April 31 between members of the group and representatives of some European countries.

The meeting, the sources added, tackled a number of burning issues, including the platform of the outlawed group if they assumed power and their opinions on human rights in Egypt.

The sources said the participants also agreed on the necessity of holding another meeting on April 23.

At dawn Tuesday, April 22, Egyptian state security officers rounded up 11 leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria just four days after arresting 10 senior figures in the northern Egyptian governorate of Behira.

Prison Was The Beginning

"I told a number of western ambassadors about their viewpoint during a prison visit," Ibrahim

For his part, Dr. Ibrahim told IslamOnline.net that his contacts with the group's members started while he was imprisoned on charges of fraud and espionage.

"They asked me about why do the Europeans give due attention to my case while neglecting the human rights abuse against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt?" He said.

"I told a number of western ambassadors about their viewpoint during a prison visit, and they asked me to arrange a meeting with them through their imprisoned leaders."

He said the imprisoned leaders of the outlawed group welcomed the ambassadors' initiative but the prison officials declined to hold such meetings in the prison.

"That is why we decided to hold the meeting after I had been acquitted of all charges," he said.

"After I was freed, I phoned a number of the group's leaders, including Dr. Essam Al-Erian, Dr. Mohammad Mursi; the group's MP and journalist Mohammed Abdul Qadous, and we met in the Swiss Club on Monday 31.

"The six-hour meeting was attended by official representatives of Britain, Sweden and Switzerland and dwelt on a number of issues, such as their platform if they assumed office," he added.

"We concluded our meeting by calling for expanding the participation of European countries in the talks and we suggested inviting representatives from Denmark and Norway to join us, since they have no agendas for the Middle East and stand neutral. We decided that April 23 would be our second meeting," Dr. Ibrahim continued.

Nothing New

On the group's dialogue with European countries, Dr. Essam al-Erian, a prominent figure of the Muslim Brotherhood, said there is nothing new or special about such a dialogue, noting that it was like other dialogues between the group and different bodies.

"Dr. Ebrahim phoned me and told me that some European officials invited me to have tea with them and I simply accepted," he told IslamOnline.net.

He said the meeting centered on the group's viewpoint on democracy and human rights in Egypt.

"We agreed on inviting a number of independent Muslim figures and official representatives of Italy, Sweden, Norway and Denmark to our meetings," he said.

"This is not a violation of law," he underlined. "These are not underground meetings but a means of communication to get acquainted with different points of view and a bid to change some stereotypes (on the banned group)," he added.

Erian further said he mulls holding the 23 April meeting in the Alexandria-based Swedish Institute for Studies and inviting some independent Muslim figures to it.

The detainees are charged with "belonging to an illegal organization, attempting to secretly restart the movement's activities ... and attempting to undermine the state's security," the official sources said.

The detainees included Mohammed Hussein, a former MP; Dr. Ibrahim al-Zafrani, secretary general of the physicians' syndicate in Alexandria; Sobhi Saleh, the undersecretary of the bar association in Alexandria, Dr. Mohammad Tahir, a professor at Alexandria university.

The Brotherhood, founded in 1928 by Egyptian Hassan al-Banna, has branches in most Muslim states and in Europe, and is considered the largest Sunni Muslim political organization worldwide.

It is the largest opposition force in Egypt, with 16 MPs elected as independents because of the official ban on their activities.