CAIRO: Security forces arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition group in Egypt, during by-elections in the north of the country on Sunday, a security official said.
Twelve Islamists were arrested in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and four in Dessouq, in the Nile Delta, for belonging to a banned organization, the official said, requesting anonymity.
By-elections for four parliamentary seats are being held in both places on Sunday after a legal dispute delayed the initial 2005 vote.
Another 36 Brothers who were arrested in Dessouq on Wednesday are still being held, the official said.
They are accused of supporting a candidate belonging to the Islamist group, which is officially banned in Egypt, and have tried to propagate the Brotherhood ideology, the official said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, created in 1928, was officially banned in Egypt in 1954 but is relatively tolerated. It has one fifth of the seats in parliament, won in the election three years ago when its candidates stood as independents. -AFP
