EGYPT: An Islamist's uphill battle
Today's Los Angeles Times features a profile of an Islamic activist who's trying to get his name on the ballot for Egypt's upcoming elections.
Mohammed Shawkat Malt has been thrown in jail, had his computer confiscated by authorities and his request to be put on the ballot ignored.
Still, he's campaigning as a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and oldest Islamic political organization.
Government advocates say that letting Islamists like Malt gain too much political power will doom Egypt to becoming an Islamic state.
He disagreed:
We don't hold the regime as infidels, but we are more passionate in our faith and they don't like that. The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't want a social explosion. It would be bad for everybody. A catastrophe. We don't want the regime to collapse, now we just want a larger voice.
— Times staff writer
Photo: Muhammed Shawkat Malt, a lawyer and an activist member of the Muslim Brotherhood speaks to The Times in his place in the Qattaweya area, 88 miles northeast of Cairo. Credit: Asmaa Waguih / Los Angeles Times
