Associated Press
CAIRO: Several members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt s most powerful opposition movement, were referred Tuesday to the military court system, known for its swift trials and no right of appeal.
The move represents and escalation of the state s crackdown on the group, many of whose members have been jailed for periods of several months during the last two years, but were not convicted by the courts. Those members were detained pending investigation or under legal provisions for precautionary custody.
Egypt s state-run Middle East News Agency reported Tuesday that state security transferred an unspecified number of Muslim Brotherhood members, including Khayrat El Shater, to a military court.
El Shater, the Brotherhood s No. 3 member and a leading strategist was among 29 others whose assets were ordered frozen late January by an Egyptian prosecutor.
He was arrested in mid-December along with about 140 other members on allegations they were recruiting students and providing them with combat training, knives and chains.
The last time a group of Muslim Brotherhood members was referred to a military court was in late 2001, when 22 were put on trial, a lawyer for the group, Abd El Moneim Abd El Maksoud told The Associated Press.
The recent campaign against the Brotherhood began in December after some 50 Brotherhood students staged a military-style parade at Al-Azhar Islamic University.
Egypt s official news agency, MENA reported the Brotherhood members were referred to the military court system because their crimes make the law of the military court applicable.
The banned organization is Egypt s largest political opposition group and won 88 of parliament s 454 seats in 2005 elections, with its candidates running as independents.
The group, founded in 1928, was banned in 1954.
