'Prison is like death'
Hours after his release from prison Muslim Brotherhood
leader Essam El-Erian tells
Amira
Howeidy that Egypt's security mindset is changing
Essam El-Erian, the 52-year-old Muslim Brotherhood leader arrested in
May, was finally released on Sunday evening. Speaking to Al-Ahram
Weekly the morning after his release El-Erian was in high spirits
and, he admitted, surprised to be free.
"The way I was arrested," he said, "indicated that things would
escalate and the outcome would be altogether different."
El-Erian was arrested along with three others, including Amr Darag,
deputy president of Cairo University Staff Club and Hamdi Shahine, a
Cairo University professor, when police stormed his house on the morning
of 6 May. All were released on Sunday. The arrests were part of a wider
clampdown on the organisation after it had staged mass demonstrations
demanding reform in Cairo and other governorates. According to the
Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) 1,500 Brotherhood members
were detained in May. On the same day El-Erian was arrested Tarek
Ghannam, a Brotherhood member, died when a demonstration in Daqahlia was
attacked by anti-riot police.
El-Erian's arrest was interpreted by many as a warning to the group
to desist from organising any further demonstrations alongside the
smaller anti-Mubarak and pro-reform protests staged by the Egyptian
Movement for Change (Kifaya). There were also, at the time, widespread
but unconfirmed reports that El-Erian was planning to contest the
presidential elections.
"I never confirmed that I would stand," El-Erian told the
Weekly. "When I was asked about it during a BBC interview I
replied that the authorities had tailored the election law to allow only
the candidates it wanted. I was surprised that the authorities
misinterpreted my intentions, and that security reports were filed to
that effect."
Why, then, does El-Erian think he was arrested in the first place,
and why his sudden release?
"We always say that in Egypt prison is like death. It comes suddenly
and goes just as quickly. There are no guarantees when it comes to
freedoms with this government. We were detained for five months because
of the demonstrations while members of the Kifaya movement, for example,
were held for only a day though they, too, were organising
demonstrations."
A member of the 1984 and 1987 parliaments, and assistant
secretary-general of the Doctors Syndicate, El-Erian was a key player in
the group's brief political flourishing in the 1980s. He was also a
witness to the government's clampdown in the 1990s. Along with 27
members of the Brotherhood he was detained in 1995. Six months later the
case was referred to a military court which sentenced him to five years
imprisonment with hard labour for belonging to an illegal group. The
sentence coincided with parliamentary elections which El-Erian, along
with other active Brotherhood members, had planned to contest. It was
the first time since 1965 that members of the outlawed group had faced a
military trial.
During his imprisonment El-Erian, who had graduated from medical
school and obtained an MS in clinical pathology and a degree in law,
enrolled in Al-Azhar's Faculty of Islamic Sharia and Law and the Faculty
of Arts' History Department.
He remained an important figure within the Brotherhood and became an
influential member of its guidance council following his release in
January 2000.
Although it has been widely anticipated that El-Erian will contest
the 8 November parliamentary elections he says he remains undecided. One
important factor in his decision is his conviction in 1995 before a
military court. While the election law bars anyone convicted of a
criminal charge from standing the status of ex-political detainees who,
like El-Erian, were tried in military courts remains unclear. El-Erian's
lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, however, told the Weekly his
client had no plans to contest the election.
May's security clampdown on the Muslim Brotherhood triggered
condemnation from international rights groups like Human Rights Watch
and influential US papers, including the Washington Post and
New York Times. Although the US administration has been silent
over the issue, at least in public, it has voiced more general
criticisms of the government's repressive methods.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report
two weeks ago on political reform in Egypt which urged the Egyptian
government to clarify the status of the Muslim Brotherhood by legalising
the group.
Since El-Erian's arrest the Muslim Brotherhood has refrained from
taking to the streets, with the exception of recent student protests
demanding reform at Cairo and Ain Shams Universities. The sudden U-turn
in the Brotherhood position was interpreted by many commentators as the
price of securing his release.
"Why should my release have been contingent on a deal?" asks
El-Erian. "Isn't it possible that the security mentality has changed?
After all, there was no security presence or intervention in September's
presidential elections and we're told there won't be in the
parliamentary elections... Of course, there could be other surprises in
store, other ways to control the election results. But it is perfectly
possible that the authorities have finally realised that arresting us
only draws sympathy to the Muslim Brotherhood."
Deal or not, the Muslim Brotherhood is clearly operating in a
different political climate and many, including some of the group's
leaders, attribute to change to US pressure. During previous elections
thousands of the group's members were systematically arrested. Ahead of
the 2000 elections an estimated 6,000 Brothers were detained. But for
months now there hasn't been an arrest. And the outlawed group is once
again flaunting its motto -- Islam is the solution -- despite the fact
that it violates the election law ban on using religious discourse and
symbols in election campaigns.
El-Erian, who insists that "it's not wrong to have good relations
[with the authorities]", refuses the irony of having possibly found
himself under external -- ie US -- protection.
"What has changed," he insists, "is the government's position. Maybe
there is pressure -- it's no secret that even the Americans realise they
cannot eradicate the Islamists. But there is no link whatsoever between
the Brotherhood and the US administration."