Egyptian police said today that 21 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested and placed in preventive detention for 15 days.
They were charged with "belonging to an illegal organisation (and) attempting to reorganize their movement in order to propagate ideas to disturb public opinion," the police said.
The arrests took place yesterday and today.
A statement from the Brotherhood earlier said 15 people had been arrested, including professors at universities in Cairo and in the Nile Delta and technical experts in government agencies.
It said the detainees "had committed no crime and were strongly committed to public order."
Sources at the state security prosecutor's office said interrogation of the prisoners had begun today.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks the non-violent establishment of an Islamic state, has often been targeted by the authorities who have banned the movement despite tolerating some of its activities.
Hundreds of members have been arrested or held for questioning in past months, though the crackdown did not prevent candidates supported by the Brotherhood from winning 17 seats in legislative elections in November 2000.
One of the current detainees was identified as a parliamentary candidate, but the report did not say whether or not he ran in this election or a previous one.
Four Brotherhood members were arrested at the end of October in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
AFP