CAIRO: Egyptian police arrested 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood for membership of a banned organization Tuesday, a security source said, in the latest crackdown on the leading opposition group.
The activists were detained in dawn raids on their homes in three provinces in the Nile Delta for membership of the banned Brotherhood and possession of books and publications containing its ideology hostile to the regime, the source said.
On its website, the Brotherhood gave a higher figure for the number detained, and saying 29 members had been picked up illegally and without clear reason.
The authorities have cracked down heavily on the Brotherhood since student followers staged a military-style show of force on a Cairo university campus last month.
The group is officially outlawed in Egypt but enjoys broad support.
Despite widely reported electoral fraud in favor of the ruling party, the Brotherhood managed to secure a fifth of the seats in 2005 parliamentary elections by fielding candidates as independents.
