Egyptian Islamists detained for 15 days

CAIRO, Aug 18 (Reuters) Egypt's public prosecutor today ordered 17 leading members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood remanded in custody for 15 days for questioning about their activities, prosecution sources said.

The 17 members of the Islamist group were among 20 attending a meeting which police broke up on last evening in the Cairo district of Muhandiseen.

They include the head of the group's political department, Essam el-Erian, and Mahmoud Hussein, a member of its Guidance Office, which acts as an executive committee.

The leader of the Brotherhood, Mohamed Mahdi Akef, condemned the detentions in a statement today, saying they were part of a pattern by a government which has no respect for personal freedoms The Egyptian government calls the Muslim Brotherhood an illegal organisation and regularly detains groups of members without charge, often for months at a time.

But members of the group hold one fifth of the seats in parliament, and the Brotherhood has an office open in Cairo and can operate within limits.

In many previous cases the authorities have renewed the 15-day detention orders for several months and then released the Brotherhood members without charging them.

Reuters SZ VP0252