[R-G] Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Belongs on the Ballot, Not Behind Bars

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.forward.com/articles/13082/>
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Belongs on the Ballot, Not Behind Bars
Opinion
By Essam El Erian
Thu. Apr 03, 2008

On April 8 municipal elections are scheduled to be held nationwide
across Egypt, but they will hardly be a vote for the kind of democracy
that America proclaims it supports here and elsewhere in the Arab
world. Since a brief democratic opening in 2006, the Egyptian regime
has become more hostile toward political opposition, showing less and
less tolerance toward the increasingly loud voices of reform led by
the Muslim Brotherhood, civil society organizations and a handful of
active political parties.

In its relentless effort to silence voices of political dissent, the
Egyptian government often resorts to arbitrary arrests and prolonged
detentions without trial. I myself have been detained several times,
and have spent seven out of the past 12 years of my life behind bars.

Today four independent newspaper editors are facing time in prison for
allegedly libeling government officials, most prominent among them
editor Ibrahim Eissa, who just a few days ago was sentenced to six
months for publishing information about President Hosni Mubarak's
health. The editor of the Muslim Brotherhood's English Web site,
Khaled Hamza, was detained last month, and the editor of our Arabic
Web site, Abdel Gelil al Sharnoubi, has had his house raided twice in
the past two weeks.

Ayman Nour, a fellow former parliament member who ran against Mubarak
in the most recent presidential elections in 2005, is halfway into a
five-year sentence. And 40 of my fellow Muslim Brotherhood leaders are
behind bars awaiting judgment by a military tribunal that has already
twice delayed their hearing, despite their having been acquitted at
least four times on all charges by civilian courts.

Nonetheless, the Muslim Brotherhood will participate in the upcoming
municipal elections, despite the regime's unabated crackdown against
our movement — by our count more than 800 of our members have been
detained without charge in recent months, including at least 148 of
our candidates for the local elections — and the smear campaign in the
media that has accompanied it. We decided to run for office in order
to continue struggling for peaceful reform, to mobilize the streets
against desperation, and to encourage more people to join the struggle
for freedom and democracy instead of losing hope and resorting to
violence.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not pushing for radical change in Egypt.
Aware of political realities, we decided to contest only 10,000 of the
52,000 seats the government announced are up for grabs in the local
councils, so as not to provoke the regime into fixing the final
results and to allow for coordination with other opposition groups.
Realizing our responsibility as the country's largest opposition group
to defend the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups in Egyptian
society, our lists included candidates from different economic and
social classes, as well as women and Copts.

The ruling National Democratic Party, however, has clearly not seen
our campaign this way. The government took its crackdown on democracy
a step further than it had in previous elections. Instead of just
rigging elections as it traditionally has, the regime banned
opposition candidates from registering to run for election at all.

Bureaucratic measures reduced the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate list
down to 5,754, and even then we counted only 498 who managed to
register. Hundreds of them were detained on their way to submitting
their registration papers. Independent and opposition candidates were
also unable to submit their papers. Like our candidates, many were met
by security forces and thugs who prevented them from reaching local
election offices.

The Muslim Brotherhood has fought back through the courts, filing
3,192 lawsuits demanding that our candidates be on the ballot come
election day. So far we have won 2,664 of these cases, and we stand a
good chance of winning the remaining pending cases.

The government, however, has refused to honor the court rulings. Most
of our candidates are not listed on the final ballots released by
local officials around the country in recent days.

It has become clear that the National Democratic Party will not face
any real competition in the upcoming elections. With only a few
hundred opposition and independent candidates running, the ruling
party has already secured more than 95% of seats, before even a single
vote has been cast.

Despite the government's repressive campaign against the Muslim
Brotherhood — and its attack on our constitutional, legal and human
rights — we remain committed to peaceful reform. We will continue our
struggle for a democratic society that enjoys the freedom and
prosperity to which all Egyptians aspire.

What is now at stake is Egypt's political, economic and social
stability. The regime's continued failure to provide for the people's
basic needs, and to live up to their aspiration for a free, democratic
country of regional importance, has caused unprecedented levels of
frustration among Egyptians. If continued, such political occlusion
will have disastrous consequences locally, nationally and perhaps even
internationally.

Essam El Erian is chief of the Muslim Brotherhood's political bureau.
Thu. Apr 03, 2008
-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>