[DEBATE] : More than 1, 000 Egyptian Muslim Brothers Arrested during Gaza War

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20090115T115142ZFKY16/1,000%20Egyptian%20Islamists%20arrested%20during%20Gaza%20war>
1,000 Egyptian Islamists arrested during Gaza war

CAIRO, Jan 15, 2009 (AFP) - More than 1,000 members of Egypt's
opposition Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested trying to protest
Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip since it started on December 27,
the Islamists said on Thursday.

"More than 1,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood are still detained.
For each Palestinian martyr, there's a Brother in prison," Brotherhood
leader Essam al-Aryan told AFP.

Hamas, which took control of Gaza in June 2007 and is the main target
of the Israeli onslaught that has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians,
is an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

A security official said that while around 1,000 Islamists had been
arrested since December 27, hundreds have been released and only 570
Islamists are still in prison.

Aryan said that demonstrations were planned for after Friday prayers.
The security official said mosque security would be reinforced to
prevent demonstrations.

Attempts to organise demonstrations in support of Gaza have been met
by major police deployments.

The Muslim Brotherhood called on the authorities to allow expressions
of "popular anger" through demonstrations.

The Muslim Brotherhood is banned by the government but fielded
independent candidates in 2005 parliamentary elections, winning a
fifth of seats despite fraud and police intervention.

Arrests of its supporters have increased since the group's success in
the election, in which it contested a limited number of seats.