Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Abdel Monem Mahmoud is the latest victim of the Egyptian police state. A blogger, journalist, activist, who also happens to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel Monem was arrested by Egyptian security police as he was waiting for a plane to take off on a business trip. The recent sentencing of blogger Kareem for statements he made on his blog set the stage for a wider crackdown on active members of the Egyptian blogosphere as more dissenting and anti-government opinions are being expressed through this powerful new medium.

Fellow blogger Alaa gives a brief run-down of the events on Abu Aardvark’s blog:

the sequence goes as such.

*state security sends special forces to arrest several muslim brotherhood members
* Monem receives a phone call from his mother informing him that special forces raided their alexandria home and he is wanted
* Monem decides to turn himself in in order to spare his parents any hardships
* in preparation for his arrest monem sends emails and smss informing people he is about to turn himself in and posts a couple of posts on his blog that can be used as a seed for a campaign
* monem contacts his lawyers who tell him to wait until they find out more details
* lawyers find out there is no legal arrest warrant and advice monem not to turn himself in
* monem hears his father’s health is deteriorating and he needs to be hospitalized, monem is now confused and starts contemplating hiding for a longish period
* monem shoots two videos, one about his father’s health that gets posted on youtube (is this the first time a wanted political prisoner on the run posts videos on youtube? I’m sure state security appreciated this touch), the other is an interview with Al Hewar TV (his current employer)
* monem judging that since there are no legal arrest warrants he is technically allowed to travel and decides to try and leave the country on a pre-shceduled business trip
* monem passes passport control and boards the plane but gets arrested before plane takes off
* hours later Monem shows up in front of shobra prosecutor is charged with silly charges that can put him in jail for a very long time, monem will spend 15 days in custody then appear before the prosecutor again, prosecutor will most probably send him back to jail when th 15 days are over. this can go on for 6 months (enough time to cook up a good anti-terrorism law?). his arrest is now legal (or as legal as it gets in the land of the pharaohs)

meanwhile we (as in everyone who does that kind of thing) are franticly trying to organize a campaign.

Of course not only was Abdel Monem arrested for being an outspoken critic of the Egyptian government, but his active membership in the Muslim Brotherhood is most definitely another excuse for him and his family to be intimidated and tortured. Abdel Monem’s arrest is in accordance with the severe crackdown Mubarak’s regime has initiated against the Brotherhood, as it fears any force that may rival its unquestionable power. The latest example is the arrest of Dr. Mohammad Abdelaal, a professor of medicine at Ein El-Shams University. Mubarak’s cowards called the doctor at his home and asked him to come pick up a laptop and camera which they had confiscated from him recently. When he arrived at the station, they arrested him. They are not even manly enough to come arrest him in his home, because they have no reason to. Just like Abdel Monem, they will hold him for 15 days and then attempt to make extensions. It’s a process of intimidation, psychological warfare, and the epitome of lawlessness.

I’m curious to see if there will be any condemnation from US government officials or the media over these flagrant human rights abuses.

I won’t hold my breath, but I will be praying for them, and every other political prisoner.

(Arabic Network for Human Rights Information Press Release on AbdelMonem)