Mohammed Badie, supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, after his arrest in Cairo, 20 August The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has condemned the arrest of its supreme leader Mohammed Badie, who was taken to Cairo’s Tora Prison on Tuesday charged with incitement to violence and murder.
A spokesman for the Islamist group said the arrest was part of a plot against the revolution that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Badie’s detention is the latest development in a campaign by Egypt’s interim leaders to crush the Muslim Brotherhood, which dominated the government of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s former vice president Mohammad ElBaradei it to be tried in court for a “betrayal of trust” following his resignation from the interim government in protest at its bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.
The case will be heard in a Cairo court on September 19, judicial sources said on Tuesday.
AlBaradei, co-head of the secular National Salvation Front, was one of the leading figures supporting the overthrow of Morsi on July 3, but he resigned on August 14 over the Egyptian authorities’ use of force to disperse pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.
The Brotherhood urged its supporters on Tuesday to continue protesting for Morsi’s reinstatement.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Khaled Hanafi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party said: \"[Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie] is of huge value to us and we are in pain. But the Brotherhood operates as a coalition on all levels of society and this arrest will not affect our operations and our peaceful right to protest what so ever.\"
The Muslim Brotherhood appointed Mahmoud Ezzat as temporary supreme leader after Badie’s arrest in the early hours of Tuesday.
A security source told Arab Today: “No weapons were found during his arrest, and the Brotherhood Guide ?wasn’t surprised to be arrested, as if he was ready. He and the others in the apartment were asleep.”?
Badie didn’t say anything while being arrested, and walked calmly with the ?security forces towards the Security Directorate, the source said.?
The interior ministry said police picked up Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, 70, near Rabaa al-Adawiya square, where more than 200 Morsi supporters were killed on Wednesday as police cleared their protest camp.
The move has been welcomed by anti-Brotherhood groups in Egypt.
Mohammed Abdel Aziz, one of the founders of the Tamarod ??[rebellion] campaign that led protests against former president Mohammed Morsi, called the arrest “an important step on the path of the revolution, and the fight against terrorism by dismantling the ?terrorist group and arresting its leadership.”?
In post on his Facebook page, Aziz added: “We still repeat our demand to dissolve the Brotherhood, its money ?should be confiscated and it should be included on the list of terrorist organisations.”?
Egyptian authorities are waiting for a decision on whether to ?dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt for violating the laws of non-govenrmental organisations and being involved in politics.?
Meanwhile, interim President Adly Mansour declared three days of mourning on Monday for 25 policemen shot dead by militants in the restive Sinai Peninsula, just hours after 37 Muslim Brotherhood prisoners died in police custody.
Senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, including Badie, have been accused by Egypt\'s military-backed authorities of inciting the violence that led to the deaths of protesters.
And judicial sources said fresh accusations had been levelled against Morsi himself, who has been held in a secret location since the military deposed him on July 3.
Meanwhile, former president Hosni Mubarak won conditional release in the third of four cases against him, but remained in detention on the fourth.
The bloodbath sparked by the crisis showed little sign of abating as militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at two buses carrying police in Sinai on Monday - the deadliest attack of its kind in decades.
The interior ministry blamed the attack on \"armed terrorist groups\" and officials later said the border with the Palestinian Gaza strip, near where the attack occurred, would be closed.
Security sources said another policeman was killed in the northern city of El-Arish, bringing to at least 75 the number of security force members killed in Sinai since the army toppled Morsi.
The attack followed the death of 37 Muslim Brotherhood detainees as they were being transferred to a north Cairo jail.
Authorities said they died after police fired tear gas in a bid to free an officer taken hostage by prisoners.
But the Brotherhood, the once-banned movement from which Morsi hailed, held the police accountable, accusing them of \"murder\".
They said the incident affirmed \"the intentional violence aimed at opponents of the coup, and the cold-blooded killing of which they are targets\".
In response to the violence, EU ambassadors were recalled from their summer break for a meeting in Brussels, with foreign ministers due to review the bloc\'s ties with Egypt at an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
The European Union has pledged nearly five billion euros ($6.7 billion) in aid to Egypt but has cautioned this was under \"constant review\" after Morsi\'s ouster.
The United States has cancelled joint military exercises with Egypt but stopped short of suspending $1.3 billion in annual aid.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel urged Egypt\'s interim government to take an \"inclusive approach to reconciliation\" but admitted Washington\'s influence was limited.
The international response has not been uniformly critical, however. Both Saudi Arabia and Jordan have said they back Egypt in its fight against \"terrorism\".
Additional source: AFP