Pre-emptive arrest campaign of MB members in Egypt

Egyptian security services carried out pre-emptive arrest campaigns against Muslim Brotherhood members across Egypt, security and human rights sources told Anadolu on Monday.

Before the arrest campaigns, the Muslim Brotherhood, along with other anti-military coup activists, had been planning for a week of action to mark the fifth anniversary of the January 25 Revolution.

Anadolu reported the sources claiming that the Egyptian security services arrested people to prepare for “potential violence” in the country. The sources did not mention final statistics as the arrests are still ongoing.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian interior ministry announced on Sunday that it had arrested 23 Muslim Brotherhood members from Al-Bohairah Governorate, north of Cairo, who were reportedly hiding from the judiciary.

Human rights activist Mohamed al-Baker wrote on his Facebook page that the Egyptian security services had carried out a “preventive arrest campaign” sometime before the fifth anniversary.

He said that he recorded cases of freed prisoners, enforced disappearances, people whose houses were raided and inquiries by security agents about certain youths.

On Friday, 12 Egyptian governorates witnessed demonstrations calling for the removal of Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi. The demonstrations came just days after he said that he would quit if the Egyptians desired so.