Egypt orders arrest of Brotherhood leader

Prosecutor’s office issues arrest warrant for Mohamed Badie on charges of inciting violence in Cairo when 51 died.

Mohammed Badie
The Brotherhood said the charges against Badie was an attempt by the authorities to break up an ongoing vigil [AP]

Egypt’s prosecutor’s office has ordered the arrest of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie on charges of inciting violence outside the Republican Guard headquarters where 51 people were killed on Monday, state news agency MENA has reported.

Other senior Brotherhood officials were also ordered to be detained, including Badie’s deputy Mahmoud Ezzat and party leaders Essam El-Erian and Mohamed el-Beltagy.

Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, reporting from Cairo, said nine others are included in the arrest warrant.

Gehad Haddad, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, said the movement’s leaders had not been detained yet and the announcement of charges against Mohamed Badie and several other Brotherhood leaders was an attempt by the authorities to break up an ongoing vigil.

Thousands of Brotherhood followers have been maintaining a vigil near a mosque in northeast Cairo demanding the reinstatement of Mohamed Morsi, toppled as president by the army last week.

Our correspondent said that the leaders who have arrest warrants against them are currently present at the vigil at Rabaa Adaweya mosque in northeast Cairo and that it will be difficult for the police to enter the large crowd of pro-Morsi supporters.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies