The Egyptian public prosecutor's office has been busy rounding up former top officials of late, with the latest group including former President Hosni Mubarak himself. Mubarak, who went into a hospital complaining of heart trouble, has been detained by the prosecutor's office officials, who are considering moving the former president to a Cairo hospital.

Mubarak's two sons, Gamal and Alaa, have been detained in Cairo, in connection with an investigation into charges of corruption and violence associated with the crackdown that led to the deaths of hundreds of people during the 18 days of protests that led to Mubarak's leaving office. Also being held, after being arrested, was Fathi Surour, who had been parliament speaker since 1991.

The arrest and detainments come in the wake of renewed large numbers of people protesting in Cairo's Tahrir Square and elsewhere, voicing their concerns with the actions being taken by the ruling military council, which supplanted Mubarak and his government a few weeks ago. Protesters allege that many of them have been arrested and subject to the same sort of treatment as those arrested under Mubarak's regime. Notably, the ruling generals sent troops into Tahrir Square to break up a protest a few days ago.

For their part, the military council said that their actions were needed to protect the country from further civil unrest and to ensure that parliamentary elections take place as planned in September. Early on in the post-Mubarak era, the military council had disbanded the dreaded secret police and taken other actions sought by the thousands of people who packed Tahrir Square night after night. Those changes, though large and fundamental, have stopped for the most part, as the country prepares for the elections.