Egyptian authorities arrest Muslim Brotherhood leader

Wednesday, 21 August 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Egyptian authorities escalated their crackdown on deposed President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood by arresting the Islamist organisation’s top leader, state media reported on Tuesday.

Mohamed Badie, 70, was detained at a residential apartment in Nasr City in northeast Cairo “after information came to the security apparatus locating his place of hiding,” the state news agency reported. The Interior Ministry’s Facebook page showed a picture of Badie, with dark rings under his eyes, sitting in a car between two men in black body armour, with a caption confirming his arrest. “Carrying out the decisions of the public prosecutor to arrest and bring forward the ‘general guide’ of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and through collected information and observation of movements, it was possible for the criminal search apparatus under the direction of Cairo’s security (services) to arrest him,” according to the caption. Badie was charged in July with inciting the murder of protesters. Together with his two deputies, he is due to stand trial on 25 August. Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told the Al Masry Al Youm newspaper that Badie was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday. The military removed Mursi from power on July 3 after mass protests against his rule. Mursi, who was freely elected but alienated many Egyptians during his year in power, is in detention at an undisclosed location.