CAIRO: Police on Sunday detained 100 Muslim Brotherhood activists as part of a crackdown on the Islamist opposition group to undermine its campaign against emergency laws, the group s deputy leader said. Mohamed Habib told Reuters the arrests were in southern Egypt. Some were taken from their homes, some from the street, he said. Some had been kept briefly then released, he said. An Interior Ministry source said 95 Brotherhood activists had been arrested in the southern provinces of Qena and Assiut. The detained activists had been planning demonstrations against the emergency laws, the source said Police detained 34 students Sunday at Assuit University for suspected membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, a police official and group members said. Assuit Brotherhood leader Mahmoud Hussein said the arrests were part of the authorities uninterrupted campaign of detentions. Mohammed Osama, a Brotherhood spokesman at its Cairo headquarters, and a Cairo police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed the arrests. Charges have not yet been filed. A Brotherhood student representative at Assuit University, who refused to give his name fearing police reprisal, said security men stormed the student's apartments in three residential areas at dawn and confiscated books and papers. The Brotherhood representative at the university warned of possible demonstrations if the detained students were not freed. Seven Brotherhood members were arrested late on Friday and another five late on Thursday, security sources and the Brotherhood said on Saturday. At least 50 Brotherhood members have been arrested since March. The Brotherhood s Web site said the five arrested on Thursday were all publishers who were planning to compete in their union s elections next month. Although the Brotherhood is outlawed, its members form the largest opposition bloc in parliament with nearly one fifth of the seats. They stand as independents to avoid the ban on their group. The authorities occasionally crack down, arresting known Brotherhood members and holding them for belonging to an outlawed organization. The Brotherhood says the government is trying to rein it in after its success in parliamentary elections late last year. The authorities refuse to grant the Brotherhood legal recognition as a political party because the constitution bans parties based on religion. Agencies
