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by Emad Mekay CAIRO (IslamOnline) - Egypt's largest Islamic opposition group set to run for the country's upcoming parliamentary elections said on Sunday its candidates has taken to the Internet in an attempt to detour official harassment and mass arrests within its ranks.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood launched their first election-devoted web site to "spread the word of Islam" and "introduce its galaxy of change." The country's most influential Islamic organization has seen hundreds of its followers rounded up and arrested in recent months and several of its rallies and leaflets banned. Some 500 members have been arrested in recent months, and 20 of the group's leaders will stand for trial in a military court later in October. In June, the government closed down the Islamist-oriented al-Shaab newspaper, depriving the group of a major outlet for its ideas and propaganda. The new web site is the last pragmatic step the group has taken to reach the masses and improve its conservative image. The site, called "Hope of the Nation" contains a host of the group's banned literature in Arabic. The site includes information, biographies and pictures of Brotherhood members running in the elections. The elections, in which over 444 seats will be contested, will be held in three stages starting October 18th and ending in mid-November. The group said last week that it was fielding 72 candidates who would run as independents after the government froze the Labor Party, which the Muslim Brotherhood used as cover. Brotherhood leaders say the arrest campaign is aimed at preventing the organization from taking part in the parliamentary elections. The group, for the first time, selected a Muslim sister, Jihan al-Halfawy, to stand in this month's elections for a seat in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. It has also has chosen a Coptic Christian to run alongside her. The Brotherhood has been outlawed for 46 of its 72-year history, having been accused of trying to assassinate Gamal Abdel Nasser. |
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