Tensions heat up between Islamists & Egypt govt

Tension is mounting between the Egyptian authorities and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood ahead of next week's legislative polls, with hundreds of Islamists having been rounded up by security forces.

On Friday alone between 100 and 120 Islamists were arrested across Egypt, according to a security official, while the Brotherhood said around 250 people were rounded up during clashes with security forces.

Despite the conflicting reports it was the largest number of people arrested in a single day since the opposition Brotherhood announced on October 9 plans to field candidates in the November 28 legislative polls.

Most of Friday's arrests took place in the northern port of Alexandria, the country's second city and a Brotherhood stronghold, and in the Nile Delta, the Brotherhood said on its website.

"The regime is trying to terrorize citizens to make them stay away from the polls," senior Brotherhood official Mohammed Mursi said after Friday's arrests.

Mursi said around 300 people were seized, including 130 in Alexandria, when security forces tried to break up rallies for Brotherhood candidates. Several people were hurt in the clashes, two seriously, he said.

Other Brotherhood officials reported clashes in the Nile Delta, north of Cairo, and said police fired tear gas at demonstrators.

"We had organized marches in Alexandria and, for no reason at all, the police intercepted them, beating up marchers and carrying out arrests," Hussein Ibrahim, a Brotherhood MP from the outgoing parliament, told AFP.

The independent al-Shuruq newspaper said on Saturday that those arrested face charges of "membership in an illegal organization" and for "resisting law enforcement officers and taking part in unauthorized march."

Ibrahim also charged that the election commission had invalidated his candidacy in Alexandria, erasing his name and that of three other would-be Brotherhood MPs from electoral lists "for no reason."

The Brotherhood has accused the authorities of cracking down on its members ever since it announced plans in October to field candidates for the polls.

The arrests -- even if they are short-term, with most of those detained released after a few days -- are aimed at weakening the Brotherhood's capacity to mobilize and prepare for the elections, the Islamists say.

On Tuesday, before the latest spate of arrests, Mursi told AFP that police had rounded up about 600 Muslim Brotherhood members ahead of the election and that some 250 were still being held.

The group, which registers its candidates as independents to skirt a ban on religious parties, won a fifth of parliament's seats in the last election in 2005.

It is fielding about 135 candidates for 508 seats up for election while the ruling National Democratic Party is running about 800 candidates, and the liberal Wafd opposition party about 250.

Past elections in Egypt have been marred by violence and irregularities, and local rights groups say the vote has already been compromised by the arrests of many opposition activists.

On Thursday, Egypt accused the United States of meddling in its affairs in an unusually harsh criticism after Washington called for foreign monitors in this month's election and also met with a group pressing for reform.

In its annual report on the status of religious freedom released on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said Brotherhood members face arbitrary detention in Egypt and pressure from the authorities.

We had organized marches in Alexandria and, for no reason at all, the police intercepted them, beating up marchers and carrying out arrests

Hussein Ibrahim, a Brotherhood MP

Egypt hits out at US over religious freedom complains

Egypt on Saturday angrily dismissed complaints from the United States concerning religious freedom in its key Middle East ally, saying that Washington has no right to hand down judgments.

"The report is rejected on principle because it has been issued by a party which has no right to made such an evaluation," the foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement in reaction to a US report on religious freedom.

"Egypt is only concerned with what emerges from parties linked to the United Nations," the Egyptian spokesman said.

The annual International Religious Freedom Report, released on Wednesday by the US State Department, carried a sharp complaint about the status of religious freedom in Egypt.

"The status of respect for religious freedom by the government remained poor, unchanged from the previous year," the 2010 report said.

It singled out minority groups such as Christians and members of the Bahai faith, saying they "face personal and collective discrimination, especially in government employment and their ability to build, renovate, and repair places of worship."

Furthermore, members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood "remain subject to arbitrary detention and pressure from the government," the report said.

Second time Cairo harshly criticizes the US

It was the second time in as many days that Cairo has expressed rare and harsh criticism of Washington.

On Thursday it accused the United States of meddling in its affairs after the US administration called for foreign observers to monitor the November 28 parliamentary election in Egypt.

Tensions have been mounting ahead of the polls, and the Muslim Brotherhood has accused the authorities of arresting hundreds of its members since it announced on October 9 plans to field candidates in the election.

Egypt does not recognize the Bahais who consider Bahaullah, born in 1817, to be the last prophet sent by God -- a direct conflict with Islam, the religion of most Egyptians, which considers Mohammed to be the last prophet.

Coptic Christians, who make up between six and 10 percent of Egypt's 80-million-strong population, frequently complain of discrimination and sectarian attacks.