Blow for Muslim Brotherhood as supreme leader arrested
Print Edition
Egypt’s military-backed authorities yesterday arrested the supreme leader of the country’s Muslim Brotherhood, dealing a serious blow to the Islamist group at a time when it is struggling in the face of a government crackdown to keep up street protests against the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi.
The Brotherhood’s spiritual guide, Mohammed Badie, was arrested in an apartment in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City, close to the location of the six-week sit-in protest by supporters of Morsi.
The encampment was cleared by security forces last Wednesday, along with another protest site in Giza, in a raid that killed hundreds of people.
Badie’s arrest is the latest stage in an escalating crackdown by authorities on the Brotherhood in which hundreds have been arrested.
The Brotherhood’s near daily protests since Morsi’s removal have somewhat petered out the last two days, with scattered demonstrations in Cairo and elsewhere attracting hundreds, sometimes just dozens.
Morsi has been detained in an undisclosed location since the July 3 coup, prompted by days-long protests by millions of Egyptians demonstrating against him and his rule.
He faces accusations of conspiring with militant Palestinian group Hamas to escape from jail during the 2011 uprising and complicity in the killing and torture of protesters outside his Cairo palace in December.
Badie’s last public appearance was at the sit-in protest last month, when he delivered a fiery speech denouncing the coup that removed Morsi.
Badie’s arrest followed the death of his son Ammar, who was shot dead in clashes between security forces and Morsi supporters in Cairo last Friday.
Also, Badie and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater, are to stand trial later this month on charges of complicity in the killing in June of eight protesters outside the Brotherhood’s national headquarters in Cairo.
Officials said Badie was taken to Torah prison, just south of Cairo, and that prosecutors were to question him yesterday.
The military-backed government is considering outlawing the Brotherhood, which has spent most of the 85 years since its creation as an illegal organization.
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