CAIRO: The high ranking members of the Muslim Brotherhood currently detained by State Security will be kept behind bars for as long as possible but they will not be charged and will eventually be released, the group's lawyer predicted. "The investigations are finished and they should be released but because it is a politically-motivated case the point is to keep them detained for as long as possible, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud told Daily News Egypt. Prominent members of the group including its Deputy Supreme Guide Mahmoud Ezzat and members of its Guidance Office including Essam El-Erian were arrested early last month in dawn raids on their homes. The group is officially banned by the state and is considered illegal; hence its members are often arrested for their affiliation to a banned group. In the latest bout of arrests, the detainees refused to cooperate with the investigation, claiming they had faced these accusations many times in the past and had nothing more to add. Abdel-Maqsoud believed that there would be no further procedures after the phase of interrogations, saying, "I doubt the detainees will be referred to any court for charges, they just want to curtail brotherhood activities. The lawyer also denied a report in Al-Masry Al-Youm which stated that there was a security plan to raid the group's headquarters in Al-Manial and carry out more arrests. "It came up in the investigations that they were going to a flat in Manial, but there are no plans to raid this apartment, Abdel-Maqsoud said. There were 14 arrests in all during the raids in February, including the four members of the Guidance Office. Other arrests took place in Alexandria, Giza, Assiut and Sharqeya. "These arrests are unjustified and illegal and coming right before the Shoura Council elections, then the parliamentary and presidential elections, seems to indicate that it's related, Head of the Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc Hussein Ibrahim told Daily News Egypt at the time. Egypt is due to hold the Shoura (Advisory) Council elections in April. Elections for the People's Assembly are due in October and presidential elections are to be held in 2011. "We hope the Egyptian people refuse the message of this crackdown because the Brotherhood have the right to pursue their civil and personal rights, Ibrahim added.
