Egypt frees more activists

Judicial sources said the people released were from Cairo, the Nile Delta provinces of Sharkia and Dakahlia, and the southern provinces of Minya and Fayum.

Those freed on Thursday were among hundreds detained in a crackdown on the opposition during May protests.

Egyptian forces arrested hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members during the protests for political reform and then jailed hundreds more in later demonstrations calling for the release of those imprisoned.

 

On Wednesday, the authorities released 77 members of the organisation, believed to be Egypt‘s largest opposition movement.

 

Detentions

The group was officially banned in the 1950s but continues to operate within limits.  

A Muslim Brotherhood official said that after the latest releases the number of members in detention had fallen to about 300, out of more than 3000 who have spent time in custody since the first protests it organised in March.

 

Two Kefaya (Enough) movement  activists were detained

Separately, Egyptian authorities on Thursday ordered the detention for 15 days of two men arrested while handing out leaflets expressing opposition to any extension of President Hosni Mubarak’s rule or transfer of power to his son Gamal.

Mohamed Shafik and Ahmed Eid were arrested on Tuesday while handing out the leaflets at a Cairo underground station.

Questioning

The state security prosecutor ordered that the men, activists in the Kefaya (Enough) Movement, be detained for questioning for 15 days.

 

Kefaya has, since December, staged a series of demonstrations against Mubarak’s rule.

 

British newspapers this week quoted presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad, as saying Mubarak, 77, would seek a fifth six-year term in elections later this year.

Awad later denied making the remarks.

 

Gamal Mubarak is a senior official in the ruling party but he has repeatedly denied that he has immediate plans to seek the presidency.