CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested in Alexandria while gathering signatures for the National Coalition for Change’s petition for change.
The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) says that state security investigations officers raided and searched the homes of nine MB members at dawn on Sunday. A total of six men were detained because the other three were not at home at the time of the raid.
“Security bodies have launched successive campaigns against individuals calling for change and democracy. It would seem that demanding reform has become the most serious of offences, especially outside Cairo. These latest detentions come only days after 15 people supporting the [petition for change’s seven] demands were detained in Alexandria,” an ANHRI statement issued on Monday reads.
ANHRI says that the group of 15 was charged with “threatening public peace and security.” Seven were released, six were detained for 15 days while two others were released on bail of LE 10,000. Two of the group were released on Monday morning.
“This confirms the government’s intention to track down and impose restrictions on political opponents before the upcoming parliamentary elections and deny its competitors any opportunity to take part in free elections,” ANHRI says.
The MB announced in July that it would be collecting signatures for the petition for change launched by Mohamed ElBaradei, the former direct of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
On the MB website (www.tawkatonline.com), 463,540 signatures have been collected, while 94,035 people have signed the petition on the National Coalition for Change’s page (www.taghyeer.net).
Abdel-Rahman Youssef from the National Coalition for Change says that a total of approximately 600,000 signatures have been gathered including signatures collected offline.
