CAIRO (AFP) — Egyptian security forces arrested 14 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in dawn raids at their homes on Thursday, a judicial official told AFP.
The men, members of Egypt's main opposition group, were seized at their homes in Cairo and in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
They have been ordered detained for 15 days on charges of "belonging to a banned group, calling for demonstrations and possessing documents seeking to spread the (Brotherhood) ideology," the official said.
The organisation's number two, Mohammed Habib, accused the government in a statement of seeking to "prevent the Brotherhood from having a role in Egyptian political life."
The Brotherhood, founded in 1928, was officially banned in 1954 but is relatively tolerated. Using sympathisers running as independents, the group won one-fifth of seats in the 2005 parliamentary elections.
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