Egypt to release two top Muslim Brotherhood leaders
Source: Reuters
CAIRO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Egyptian prosecutors decided on Saturday to release to house arrest two senior leaders of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood who were detained in May during anti-government street protests, judicial sources said. Essam el-Erian and Mohamed Mursi are the most senior Brotherhood officials in detention in Egypt. Erian is the head of the political department and Mursi is a leading Brotherhood politician. The sources said Erian and Mursi were expected to leave jail on Sunday or Monday, although no official time had been set, and would be placed under house arrest. The Muslim Brotherhood, while officially banned, is Egypt's strongest opposition movement. Members elected as independents hold about one fifth of seats in parliament, which is dominated by President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party. The Brotherhood operates openly in Egypt within limits. Erian and Mursi have been held in administrative detention since they were arrested in May at protests in support of Egyptian judges demanding greater independence from the executive. Their detention was subsequently renewed every 15 days. A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest Islamist political movements in the Arab world said of the decision to release the men: "We hope that it will be implemented ... It should be in a few days." He added that the group planned to challenge the house arrests. A previous court order in August to release Erian and Mursi was ultimately reversed after prosecutors appealed. Police detain Brotherhood members periodically under the country's emergency laws, often without charges. In October, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said Egypt had intensified a crackdown on the Brotherhood, citing fresh arrests that it described as "arbitrary". The Brotherhood says roughly 40 of its members are currently being held in Egyptian jails.
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