Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Crackdown, Blogger Re-Convicted

Only days after sources close to the Muslim Brotherhood claimed that the Islamist group was suspending its political program, Egyptian police detained at least 50 Brotherhood members during a demonstration against Israeli settlement policies, with some reports [Arabic] suggesting that the total number arrested exceeded 100. This is the second such crackdown on MB activities in as many months.

In other news, blogger and democracy activist Wael Abbas — previously sentenced to 6 months jail time last November before an appeals court acquitted him in February —  was convicted yet again, this time by Egypt’s Economic Court under the charge of “providing a telecommunications service to the public without permission.” During Abbas’ earlier trial last fall, this same charge had been dropped by the public prosecution in favor of indicting Abbas for “vandalizing an Internet connection.” Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, blasted the government for its “blatant tampering” with the law. “The case was closed already and Abbas was acquitted after proving to the judiciary that it was a completely fabricated,” he said. “The Ministry of Interior is so keen to jail a blogger…because his blog exposes crimes of torture and corruption in Egypt.”

Urging the Egyptian government to overturn Abbas’ new sentence, the Committee to Protect Journalists stressed that “[manufacturing] one charge after another until one finally sticks makes a mockery of the judicial system.”