CAIRO: Prosecutors on Tuesday extended the detentions of 164 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and 21 other people for taking part in pro-reform protests earlier this spring.
The 164 members of the Brotherhood and the 21 others were ordered held for 15 more days each by prosecutors of the government s state security arm.
In addition, nine senior members of the Brotherhood were arrested Sunday and ordered detained for 15 days, bringing to more than 650 the number of the group jailed in the last three months.
Since late April, police have arrested hundreds of activists involved in peaceful protests against disciplinary hearings for two reformist judges. Egyptian authorities can hold detainees for up to six months without trial under Egypt s criminal laws.
Judges Mahmoud Mekki and Hisham El-Bastawisy, members of the country s highest appellate court, were put before the disciplinary board for speaking to the media about election fraud in the most recent parliamentary elections in November and December.
On May 18, the judicial disciplinary panel reprimanded Hisham El-Bastiwisy but cleared Mahmoud Mekki. El-Bastawisy suffered a heart attack hours before the verdict.
The 21 non-Brotherhood protesters ordered held for another 15 days Tuesday have already been in detention since late April. Four others, including two women, were ordered released Tuesday.
Most are members of the pro-reform movement called Kefaya (Enough). In all, about 60 have been in jail for a month after being picked up during demonstrations.
The Brotherhood, an Islamic-based political party that is formally banned but usually tolerated by the government, won nearly 20 percent of the legislature s seats in last year s elections, making it the largest opposition bloc. AP
