Action Alert: Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood Members in Egypt 08 January 2007 IHRC urges campaigners to contact their local Egyptian embassy and protest against the crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood ------------------------------------------------------- Islamic Human Rights Commission ------------------------------------------------------- 08 January 2006 Action Alert: Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood Members in Egypt IHRC urges campaigners to contact their local Egyptian embassy and protest against the recent crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. 1. Background In dawn raids carried out on 2 January 2007, state security services arrested 29 Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the governorates of Sharqiya, Gharbiya and Daqahliya. The detentions come in the context of the latest Egyptian government vetted security and media campaigns against the Muslim Brotherhood in which almost 200 members have been arrested in recent weeks. Many of those detained earlier in the week were arrested while performing the Eid prayers all over the country. Islamic publishing houses and private companies belonging to Muslim Brotherhood members were also shut down. A conjunctivitis professor at Al-Azhar University was also detained in his clinic in Heliopolis in front of his patients. The detainees include Eng. Mohamed Khayrat Al Shater, the second deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood. Al Shater’s health is considerably deteriorating due to the poor prison conditions he is being held in. The prisoners are detained in 3 × 8 metres cell where 17 individuals are piled up and sleep on the floor. The cell is opened for only 1 1/2 hours every day. The detainees have been denied blankets and the prison administration refuses to allow medicine for patients. Family visits have also been denied. Dr. Mohammed Ramadan, who is in charge of Al Shater's medical treatment, said the MB Deputy had trouble breathing several times inside the prison cell due to the high level of humidity and inadequate ventilation inside the prison cell which is closed all the time with the air polluted by cigarette smoking from many of the criminal prisoners he is confined with.Dr. Ramadan pointed out that the State Security Police, which oversees the detention of political prisoners, refused to allow a blood sugar and blood pressure machines inside the prison to monitor his treatment. Dr. Ramadan added that Al-Shater prior to his arrest, was scheduled to have a cardiac cathetarization to examine the condition of his heart's circulation. For further information and a full list of the detainees, please visit http://www.ihrc.org.uk/show.php?id=2388 2. Suggested Action Contact the Egyptian embassy in your country (http://egypt.embassy-uk.co.uk/index.htm ) and request that - the detainees be released immediately. It has not been proven that they have committed any crime and they must be therefore released. - the detainees be treated in accordance with international human rights standards - the detainees be given full medical care - the families of the detainees be allowed visit them Details for the Egyptian Embassy in the UK Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt 26 South Street London W1Y 6DD Fax: 0207 491 1542 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you are reusing this alert, please cite the source. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you want to subscribe to the IHRC list please send an email to subscribe@ihrc.org If you want to unsubscribe from the IHRC list please send an email from your subscribed email address to unsubscribe@ihrc.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.” Holy Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 75 Join the Struggle for Justice. Join IHRC. Islamic Human Rights Commission PO Box 598 Wembley HA9 7XH United Kingdom Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222 Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183 Email: info@ihrc.org Web: www.ihrc.org , Recommend this article to a friend Your name: Your friend's email address: