Posted on 11/28/2005 5:18:39 AM PST by Dark Skies
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police arrested nearly 200 Muslim Brotherhood activists on Monday in a crackdown the opposition Islamist group said was designed to weaken its chances in parliamentary elections this week.
The Brotherhood has made a strong showing in four days of voting held so far, increasing its number of seats fivefold, despite arrests of its activists and the blocking of polling stations by riot police in Islamist strongholds.
Arrests were made in areas north of Cairo, northern Sinai and Sohag south of the capital, where voting will take place on December 1 and 7, the officially banned Brotherhood said.
The Brotherhood's Web site said 191 activists had been arrested. A police source put the number at 197. Police seized computers and campaign leaflets during the arrests, the Brotherhood said.
"The detentions will continue today, tomorrow and the day after," Brotherhood deputy leader Mohamed Habib told Reuters. Police were still holding 710 Brotherhood activists arrested in the previous two days of voting, he said.
The Brotherhood has won 76 of parliament's 444 seats so far, underlining its weight as Egypt's strongest opposition force.
The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has won at least 195 seats, maintaining its control of the chamber. About a third of the seats will be decided in the final two days of voting.
The Brotherhood's strong showing has caught the NDP off guard and the authorities have curbed leeway given to the Islamists in the early stages of voting.
Habib said the authorities would try to stop his group, founded in 1928, from winning more than 100 seats.
Brotherhood candidate Mohamed el-Salahgi said police had rounded up 50 of his supporters who were due to monitor polling stations in the Mediterranean town of Damietta. They were taken from their homes in the early morning, he said.
"They just said: 'You are from the Brotherhood. Let's go.'"
The Brotherhood, whose candidates stand as independents, is only contesting about a third of parliament's seats. The group says it wants to bring legislation in line with Islamic laws and work for political freedoms in Egypt.
It is running for 49 seats in the final two days of voting.
The Muslim Brotherhood is dangerous, and its growing popularity in Egypt isn't good.
Window dressing?
Possibly. Also looks like lots of free publicity for the Brotherhood.
Egyptian Islamic Brotherhood is not to be underestimated. Their tentacles have long since spread throughout the globe into the wider islamic ummah and reignited the virus within them.
Their founder Hasan al-banna (who was an admirer of Hitler) followed in his mentors (Wahabbi preacher Muhammed Rashid Rida, who was on Ibn Sauds payroll) footsteps and founded the Brotherhood naming it after the Wahhabi Ikhwan armies that invaded foreign lands, calling it Ikhwan al-Muslimun.
The organization proudly declared "Allah is our objective; the Quran is our constitution; the prophet is our leader; struggle is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations."
Then their members went on to try to assassinate Nasser, and later succeeded with Sadat.
Their most influential member was no other than Sayyid Qutb, the great scholar of the Islamic world, and said to be one who inspired Osama Bin Laden, who was taught by his brother and Abdullah Azzam, a close friend of the Qutbs.
See: How a bad U.S. visit influenced ‘Osama’s brain’ for more on Sayyid Qutb.
And now they play "moderate" so they can attempt to use the tools of the kuffar (democracy, laws on human rights etc) to destroy the way of life they so despise.
Hey USF. Excellent article on Qutb.
I think the Brotherhood's exploitation of democracy will be a seminal case study as to whether or not democracy is a valid weapon against fundamental islam.
Thx.
Lets forget the Algerian example for a sec... the one thing we ultimately have in our favor is when these people seize power they tend to start internal conflicts over who is following Mohammeds vile example the best. Thus these "Party of Allah" groups tend to fracture, splinter and ultimately start turning on their own instead of ruling effectively.
The prophecy of the 72 sects is never far from their minds.
In other words, islam will always be doomed, even if it succeeds. LOL. Most Muslims just can't see it yet. ;o)
The Project presents 12 "points of departure" - guidelines for local and national action in a global context. After the points of departure are listed, each is taken up in turn, and "Elements", "Procedures" and "Suggested Missions" pertaining to each are outlined.From:
Towards a worldwide strategy for Islamic policy
(Points of Departure, Elements, Procedures and Missions)This report presents a global vision of a worldwide strategy for Islamic policy [or "political Islam"]. Local Islamic policies will be drawn up in the different regions in accordance with its guidelines. It acts, first of all, to define the points of departure of that policy, then to set up the components and the most important procedures linked to each point of departure; finally we suggest several missions, by way of example only, may Allah protect us.
The following are the principal points of departure of this policy:
Point of Departure 1: To know the terrain and adopt a scientific methodology for its planning and execution.
Point of Departure 2: To demonstrate proof of the serious nature of the work.
Point of Departure 3: To reconcile international engagement with flexibility at a local level. Point of Departure 4: To reconcile political engagement and the necessity of avoiding isolation on one hand, with permanent education and institutional action on the other.
Point of Departure 5: To be used to establish an Islamic State; parallel, progressive efforts targeted at controlling the local centres of power through institutional action.
Point of Departure 6: To work with loyalty alongside Islamic groups and institutions in multiple areas to agree on common ground, in order to "cooperate on the points of agreement and set aside the points of disagreement".
Point of Departure 7: To accept the principle of temporary cooperation between Islamic movements and nationalist movements in the broad sphere and on common ground such as the struggle against colonialism, preaching and the Jewish state, without however having to form alliances. This will require, on the other hand, limited contacts between certain leaders, on a case by case basis, as long as these contacts do not violate the [shariah?] law. Nevertheless, one must not give them allegiance or take them into confidence, bearing in mind that the Islamic movement must be the origin of the initiatives and orientations taken.
Point of Departure 8: To master the art of the possible on a temporary basis without abusing the basic principles, bearing in mind that Allah's teachings always apply. One must order the suitable and forbid that which is not, always providing a documented opinion [? "Il faut ordonner le convenable et interdire le blâmable, tout en donnant un avis documenté"]. But we should not look for confrontation with our adversaries, at the local or the global scale, which would be disproportionate and could lead to attacks against the dawa or its disciples.
Point of Departure 9: To construct a permanent force of the Islamic dawa and support movements engaged in jihad across the Muslim world, to varying degrees and insofar as possible.
Point of Departure 10: To use diverse and varied surveillance systems, in several places, to gather information and adopt a single effective warning system serving the worldwide Islamic movement. In fact, surveillance, policy decisions and effective communications complement each other.
Point of Departure 11: To adopt the Palestinian cause as part of a worldwide Islamic plan, with the policy plan and by means of jihad, since it acts as the keystone of the renaissance of the Arab world today.
Point of Departure 12: To know how to turn to self-criticism and permanent evaluation of worldwide Islamic policy and its objectives, of its content and its procedures, in order to improve it. This is a duty and a necessity according to the precepts of sharia.
ping!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.