Egypt Detains 85 Brotherhood Members

The Egyptian authorities have taken about 180 members of the brotherhood in the past week alone.

AIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police detained dozens of members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday, expanding a crackdown on the country's strongest opposition group ahead of local elections in April.

The Islamist group, which holds one fifth of the seats in parliament, poses the most serious challenge to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in the April 8 elections for local councils which the NDP has dominated for years.

The Brotherhood said police rounded up 101 members. Security officials put the number at 85.

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he raids brought to at least 180 the number of Brotherhood members taken into custody in the last week. More than 500 in total are now in detention.

"Anyone they believe could be a candidate they detain," Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef said in an interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite channel.

"The recent arrests are all linked to the local elections," senior Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian told Reuters. "This is as clear as sunshine."

The local council elections were postponed for two years in 2006 after the Brotherhood performed better than expected in the parliamentary elections of 2005.

Akef said the Brotherhood would take part in the elections despite the campaign of arrests. "We call on all the people to take part, every honorable person who wants to serve this nation," he told Al Jazeera.