Egypt Police Arrest 64 Muslim Brotherhood Members

Egyptian state security apparatus arrested on Thursday 64 Muslim Brotherhood members from four Egyptian governments after the MB organized tens of events across the country showing solidarity with the Palestinian people, particularly those facing the deadly siege in Gaza.

The arrests include 14 MB members from Alexandria, 20 from Ismailia, 16 from Al-Sharqiyya, and 14 from Gharbia governorate.

The state security rounded up the 64 Muslim Brothers from their houses at dawn, while it failed to arrest those who were not in their homes at that time.

Among the arrested was MB chairman of Ismailiyya Administrative Bureau, vice chairman of Alexandria Administrative Bureau, as well as engineers, doctors, school teachers, and clerics.

Member of Muslim Brotherhood Executive Bureau Dr. Mohamed Morsi strongly condemned the government’s escalation against MB members across Egypt dismissing it as “outrageous” and “unjustifiable.”

“Showing solidarity with besieged Palestinians by means of words and action is not a crime, but a duty that should be upheld by all freedom-loving people,” Morsi said. “Silence towards Israeli occupation’s crimes in Gaza is considered complicity in allowing for a humanitarian disaster and ethnic cleansing for an entire nation, whose sole crime is selecting representatives through free and fair democratic elections.”

Earlier this week, Egyptian state security forces arrested on Friday seven MB members from the coastal city of Alexandria during peaceful protests against Arab regimes’ silence towards the plight of the Gaza district which the MB held across Egypt following the Friday prayer.

Further, 24 MB members were rounded up from the coastal province of Marsa Matrouh on Thursday, November 25 while they were having dinner at a friend’s house, who is also an MB member, thus raising the number of MB detainees in two days to 31.

“Most of those arrested have no other charge than belonging to the MB which is till now as a banned organization, a pretext which police views as sufficient for rounding up MB members without limits or clear charges,” Morsi told Ikhwanweb.

“We reiterate that the continuing crackdown against Egypt’s largest opposition bloc is seriously dealing a striking blow to democracy and human liberties in the country, and the illegal ban on our movement will never make us abstain from our gradual reform agenda.”

“We derive our legitimacy from the people not from a tyrannical regime,” he added.

“There is not a single example when any of our members was found guilty in a criminal case over the last 60 years. We did not steal the people’s money, we did not manipulate election results, and we did not practice torture in prisons and police stations.”

Morsi reaffirmed the Muslim Brotherhood’s commitment to peaceful reform, constitutional struggle, and non-violent opposition. He also urged civil society organizations to carry out a more positive role in confronting the regime’s failed policies. He also called on the regime to direct its forces to fighting corruption on all state levels instead of arresting pro-reform activists.