Egyptian police arrest four Brotherhood members

Cairo - Four members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, were arrested early on Sunday, security sources said.

Police seized books and publications critical of the government, when they arrested the people as members of the group were holding a meeting in the coastal city of Alexandria, sources added.

Three of the detained are members of the group's legal committee for candidacy for the elections of the Shura Council, or the upper house of the Egyptian Parliament. The vote is scheduled for the beginning of June.

The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt, but members running as independents in 2005 won nearly a fifth of seats in the People's Assembly, making the group the largest opposition bloc in the legislature.

Egyptian security forces routinely arrest members of the group, most often on charges of belonging to a banned organization.

In March, lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsud said that the government's most recent crackdown has snared 350 members of the group, including potential candidates in the coming parliamentary elections. He did not specify how many were still in jail.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321630,egyptian-police-arrest-four-brotherhood-members.html.