Police detain four Islamists in Alexandria

CAIRO: Police detained four Muslim Brotherhood members in Alexandria, bringing to 70 the number of members of the Islamist movement being held behind bars, a spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. Four members of the Brotherhood were arrested at dawn yesterday (Monday) for their continuing campaign against the Emergency Law, said Ali Abdel Fattah, the Islamist group s representative in Alexandria. According to the Muslim Brotherhood s Web site, the four were taken after their houses were searched in the Alexandria districts of Al-Gomrok and Al-Manshya. One of the four detainees, suffers from chronic bronchial asthma and is detained in unsanitary conditions without his asthma pumps which puts his life at risk, a statement said. The Islamist group launched a campaign last month calling for an end to the 25-year-old Emergency Law, which grants police sweeping powers of arrest and restricts non-government political activity. The Egyptian parliament, dominated by President Hosni Mubarak s ruling party, renewed the law for another two years last week. The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned in Egypt but fielded candidates as independents in last year s legislative elections and went on to gain one fifth of the seats in parliament. AFP