18 MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS ARRESTED IN EGYPT

Egyptian authorities have arrested 18 members of Muslim Brotherhood movement.
The Egyptian security forces detained eight Muslim Brotherhood members from the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria and 10 others from Sharqiya Governorate, said the report. According to earlier reports, scores of Muslim Brotherhood members have been arrested recently. The authorities arrested Muslim Brotherhood members, including a senior leader Essam el-Erian, in Giza Governorate adjacent to the capital city of Cairo, when they were planning a meeting there for "organizational and training purposes." Officially banned in 1954 for its attempt to set up an Islamic government, Egypt’s biggest Islamic opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats in the 454-member lower house of parliament after its members ran as independents in 2005 legislative elections in the country. An Egyptian constitutional amendment adopted by a national referendum late March prohibited the forming of any political party on religious bases.