CAIRO: Three members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood were ordered Saturday to stand trial before the Emergency State Security Court on charges of possessing weapons and provoking violence during parliamentary elections late last year, court officials said.
The three were arrested during the violent election season during which at least 10 people were killed in violence mainly blamed on security forces trying to block opposition voters from reaching the polls. Despite the police violence, the Brotherhood made astonishing gains, increasing its seats in parliament sevenfold but still well short of a majority.
Mohammed Imam Al-Hut and Abdulal Hasan Al-Najjar, both farmers, and university professor Hasan Mahmoud Al-Haywan face charges of possessing weapons and plotting to use them during the second phase of Egypt parliamentary elections.
The charges emerged from telephone taps on the phones of Al-Najjar and Al-Haywan, who authorities claimed were heard talking about assembling an arsenal of 400 automatic rifles and preparations to use them against the government. AP
