Mubarak says Brotherhood is threat to security

CAIRO, Jan 11 (Reuters) President Hosni Mubarak said the Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to Egypt's security because the country would face isolation in the world if the Islamist movement became more powerful.

In an interview released today, he said people would leave Egypt with their money, investment would stop and unemployment rise if the Brotherhood -- the country's strongest opposition group -- gained in influence.

The authorities are carrying out one of their regular crackdowns on the Brotherhood, which the government refuses to recognise despite its electoral successes.

''The trend of the outlawed Brotherhood group poses a threat to Egypt's security because it adopts a religious approach,'' Mubarak told the weekly newspaper el-Osbu, which released the interview in advance of its publication.

''If we assume that there is a rise in this trend we will see a repeat in Egypt of other experiences ... of regimes representing political Islam ... and many would flee with their money, and investments would stop and unemployment would rise.'' ''Egypt would be totally isolated from the world,'' Mubarak said in some of his harshest criticism yet of the Brotherhood.

Essam el-Erian, a senior Brotherhood leader, dismissed the Mubarak's comments as ''strange'', saying the ruling National Democratic Party would label any party as a danger to security if it felt such a party threatened its control.

''The president is ... considering that more than 20 per cent of parliament members are a threat to Egypt's security. We represent part of the history of this people, and part of the future of this people. No one can ... marginalise (us),'' he told Reuters in an interview.

The Brotherhood, a broad Islamist movement established in 1928, holds 88 of the 454 seats in the lower house of parliament. Its members run in elections as independents.

State media have portrayed a martial arts display by protesting Islamist students last year as a sign of secret Brotherhood militarism, an accusation the Islamists deny. Dozens of students have been detained.

The Brotherhood had a military wing in its early days but it gave up violence in favour of political activism after it was driven underground in the 1950s.

Mubarak focused his criticism on the possible economic effects of Brotherhood influence, drawing a parallel with events in other places where Islamists have won elections.

The president said this was why he is proposing to enshrine in the constitution a ban on political parties based on religion and the use of religious slogans in elections.

Reuters BDP RN2143