The photographers who were taking pictures of a sit-in organized by Muslim Brotherhood’s students at the Azhar university campus on December 10, 2006, never thought that the shots taken would receive such large- scale reactions. On this day the Brotherhood students staged a military-style, sportive parade in which they wore black uniforms, masks, and balaclavas with the words "We will continue steadfast" written across them and performed martial arts moves. Photos from the sit-in raised the alarm in the press that the Muslim Brotherhood was forming a militia
The reason for the sit-in was a one-month suspension of 16 students affiliated with the Brotherhood for setting up a parallel, unofficial, student union following allegations of election-rigging in order to prevent Brotherhood students from controlling the unions
Government-supported newspapers have attacked the Brotherhood in their columns, comparing it to Lebanon’s Shī‘ah militant group, the Ḥizb Allāh. "We do not want to wake up one morning to find that the tumor of Muslim Brotherhood militia is spreading in the Egyptian body. I do not want my country to repeat the tragic, Lebanese scenario where militias have established a state within a state," wrote editorialist Muhammad Ibrāhīm in al-Jumhūrīyah daily.
In addition, a large group of intellectuals and political party members expressed their fear about the military show as an indication of a new strategy by the Brotherhood to revive the “secret apparatus” dedicated to violence, overthrowing the monarchy and ending the British occupation in the 1940s and 1950s.
Many commentators linked what they called the Brotherhood militia and the declaration made by Mahdī ‘Ākif, the Brotherhood’s supreme guide, last summer - that he was ready to send a force of 10,000 young men to fight in Lebanon along with the Ḥizb Allāh.
In comment on the Brotherhood’s military-like show, ‘Ākif issued a statement in which he said it was nothing more than "a theatrical play" organized by the students and added that the government’s media campaign against his movement was an "unjustified escalation." Dr. ‘Abd al- Mun‘im Abū al-Futūh, a senior Brotherhood member, said that this incident should not be manipulated to defame the Brotherhood as an esteemed, patriotic group.
"We apologize for this skit," the Free Student Union, the parallel union, said in a statement. "This is not our way… We did this skit because we felt that no one was listening to our requests for justice... The university administration, in cooperation with the security apparatus, has denied us our rights to participate in student union elections."
On December 14 police forces raided the Azhar University’s dormitories and arrested at least 140 students. They also arrested other senior Brotherhood figures, including Khayrat al-Shātir, the group’s financier and third in command. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, information made available by State Security proves that the Brotherhood’s cadres have prepared a plan to mobilize the student population and incite it to carry out demonstrations with the purpose of undermining the regime and breaking the law.
On 17 December, the People’s Assembly held an all-day session and determined to launch an investigation into whether the Brotherhood was forming armed militias on university campuses. The assembly turned down a request by the Brotherhood’s parliamentary spokesman, Sa‘d al Katātnī, to form a fact-finding committee to look into the incident. The investigation instead was transferred to a joint committee of the national security and education departments. In response to the criticism, al- Katātnī argued that the Azhar parade was an "athletic" rather than military one.
It is worthy mentioning that the Muslim Brotherhood is the largest opposition group in Egypt. In the last parliamentary elections, the group, whose candidates ran as independents, won 88 of the 454 seats, becoming the largest opposition bloc.
Minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Mufīd Shihāb, read three statements prepared by the Azhar University, the interior ministry and the prosecutor-general. Ahmad al-Tayyib, president of the Azhar University, said that the number and influence of Brotherhood-affiliated students had grown progressively in the last two years. "They now control the university mosques, using them as forums to attack the Azhar’s moderate Islām and to discredit its clerics.” This year he added elements within the Brotherhood student movement escalated their activities to incite riots inside the university campus and matters reached a head when they refused to recognize the results of student elections. The university reacted by suspending seven students for a month.
"In a stark challenge to the university’s decision," said al-Tayyib al-Tayyib, "Muslim Brotherhood students organized a protest in front of my office, chanting anti-Azhar slogans... They broke the gates of the students’ hostel using metal sticks and organized a military parade while wearing black hoods like Hamas, Ḥizb Allāh and the Republican Guard in Iran."
The Interior Ministry statement accused the Brotherhood’s leadership as being behind the military parade. "The outlawed group armed students with knives and truncheons and asked them to form committees of deterrence," said the statement. As a result, 140 members, including university lecturers and students, were detained.
The prosecutor- general’s statement asserted that the militias are part of the Brotherhood’s attempts to revive "their old military apparatus" and lay the foundation for "a new Islamic caliphate." The statement said Brotherhood pamphlets, hoods and masks, black uniforms, knives and chains and an amount of 750,000 LE in Egyptian and foreign currency, including Israeli shekels, found in al-Shātir’s office and home were confiscated.
"The detainees face charges of belonging to an outlawed group and resorting to terrorist acts to spread the Brotherhood’s extremist ideology," said the statement.
NDP parliamentary member Sharīf ‘Umar, chairman of the Education Committee, said the military parade constituted a security threat, while his fellow member of parliament Muhammad ‘Abd al- Fattāh charged the Brotherhood with resorting to terrorist tactics in order to impose its hegemony over political life.
On December 19, the board of the Azhar University stressed the need to apply a new strategy to stop the penetration of any religious group seeking to spread its ideologies among students
Human Rights Watch called on the Egyptian government to immediately release or charge all members of the Muslim Brotherhood imprisoned in the months-long campaign, as well as students arrested for their suspected links to the group.
