By Cynthia Johnston and Mohamed Abdellah
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian military court has delayed bya month a verdict on 40 members of the opposition MuslimBrotherhood who face charges of belonging to a banned group,Brotherhood officials said on Tuesday.
Egyptian police arrested 17 more Brotherhood men duringhouse raids outside Cairo, the latest in a series of detentionsahead of local elections due in April, the group said. Securitysources confirmed the arrests.
Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moniem Abdel Maqsoud said thecourt set March 25 as the new date for a verdict for the men,the first from Egypt's strongest opposition group to face amilitary trial since 2001.
"The court finished everything, and the verdict should havebeen issued today," senior Brotherhood leader Essam el-Eriantold Reuters.
"It is unjust, because these are innocent men ... Anyadditional day (in jail) is unfair."
The men, including the Brotherhood's third-in-commandKhairat el-Shatir, have already spent well over a year in jail,with the exception of six who are being tried in absentia.
Most of the serious charges initially brought against them,including terrorism and money laundering, were reported droppedin December, leaving only lesser charges pending like belongingto a banned group and having anti-government literature.
Local and international rights groups including AmnestyInternational have criticised the military trial as unfair.Egypt has barred independent observers from the court.
LOCAL ELECTIONS
The new date set by the court means a verdict, if issued ontime, will come shortly before local elections in which theBrotherhood is seen as the most serious challenger to theruling National Democratic Party's traditional dominance.
Seats on local councils could be important at the nationallevel if the Brotherhood wants to field an independentcandidate for a presidential run in the future.
"Of course we are approaching local elections on April 8,and the rulings were delayed to only around two weeks beforethe elections. So this will affect public opinion," Erian said.
Independent candidates for the presidency need endorsementsfrom 140 members of local councils to run for president, inaddition to votes from the upper and lower houses ofparliament.
Egypt postponed local council elections for two years in2006 after the Brotherhood performed better than expected in a2005 parliamentary election.
Egypt has also stepped up arrests of Brotherhood membersthis month, with roughly 200 detained since mid-February. TheBrotherhood said those arrested on Tuesday were mid-levelofficials in Giza, just outside Cairo.
Security sources said the men were accused of belonging toa banned group, holding unauthorised meetings and possessinganti-government literature.
The non-violent Muslim Brotherhood, which holds a fifth ofthe seats in the lower house of parliament through members whoran as independents, seeks an Islamic state through democraticmeans and operates openly despite a decades-old ban.
(Reporting by Cynthia Johnston and Mohamed Abdellah;Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Keith Weir)
