DATE=11/7/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EGYPT STUDENT DEMOS (L-O)
NUMBER=2-255911
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Egypt, hundreds of students at a university
outside Cairo have demonstrated against the recent
arrest of 20 Islamist union leaders. Correspondent
Scott Bobb reports from Cairo that police dispersed
the gathering by holding the students on campus until
they agreed to leave in small groups.
TEXT: Eyewitnesses tell V-O-A as many as one-thousand
students gathered around midday (Sunday) on the campus
of Minufeya University, 80-kilometers northwest of
Cairo. They were protesting the detention of 20
former union leaders who are alleged to be members of
the Muslim Brothers, a banned Islamist group.
Human rights groups criticize the military courts,
saying these courts are hasty, their punishments often
harsh, and their verdicts cannot be appealed.
The 20 union leaders have been detained under
emergency powers. They are accused of holding illegal
meetings and of seeking to infiltrate Egypt's
professional unions, or syndicates, in anticipation of
elections due to be held early next year.
During the early 1990's, Islamists made sizeable gains
in a number of influential syndicates. The government
became concerned, and in 1995 placed two of the
unions, the lawyers' and engineers' syndicates, under
appointed supervisors. It also tightened election
laws to hinder opposition candidates.
The Secretary-General of the Egyptian Organization of
Human Rights, Hafez Abu-Saada, says the arrest of the
Islamist union leaders is a message to politicians in
Egypt.
Sources say Sunday's rally was organized by Muslim
Brothers. They indicate the group intends to sponsor
more protests in an effort to take advantage of
discontent over government controls over politics and
economic hardship caused by a decade of economic
reforms. (SIGNED)
NEB/SB/DW/RAE
07-Nov-1999 14:09 PM EDT (07-Nov-1999 1909 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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