CAIRO, March 30 (Reuters) - Egypt's arrests of hundreds of opposition Islamists, including would-be candidates in local council elections due on April 8, amount to a "shameless bid" to fix the vote, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.
The U.S.-based rights group complained that Egypt had detained more than 800 members of the Muslim Brotherhood in recent weeks, including at least 148 would-be candidates in the council vote.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which holds a fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament through members elected as independents, says it seeks an Islamic state through non-violent democratic means. It operates openly despite a decades-old ban.
Some 40 Brotherhood members are currently on trial in a military court over charges of belonging to a banned group and possessing anti-government literature. Local and international rights groups have criticised the trial as unfair.
"These ongoing mass arrests of opposition activists, on top of the military trial, are a shameless bid to fix the upcoming elections," Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
"President (Hosni) Mubarak apparently believes that the outcome of the elections cannot be left up to voters," he said.
The Brotherhood has accused the government of obstructing its efforts to register for the vote, which Egypt postponed for two years in 2006 after the Brotherhood performed better than expected in a 2005 parliamentary election.
"The ruling National Democratic Party heavily dominates the local councils, and President Mubarak seems determined to keep it that way, whatever the cost to his government's legitimacy," Stork said.
Interior ministry officials have repeatedly declined to comment on the Brotherhood accusations of obstruction. They could not be immediately reached for comment on Sunday.
Seats on local councils could be important to the Brotherhood, the country's strongest opposition group, on a national level if it wanted to field an independent candidate for a presidential run in the future.
Independent candidates for the presidency need endorsements from 140 members of local councils as well as support from members of both houses of parliament. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston; editing by Andrew Roche)
