Brotherhood leaders referred to court

Brotherhood leaders referred to court
Thu Aug 1, 2013 13:43:36

An Egyptian prosecutor has referred top Muslim Brotherhood figures to a criminal court, accusing them of inciting violence by the group's Cairo headquarters in Mokattam.

The defendants include the Brotherhood's spiritual guide, Mohamed Badie, and senior member businessman Khairat al-Shater and three others.

Violent confrontations that erupted by the Brotherhood's office on June 30 left at least 12 people dead.

The prosecutor also renewed the detention of Former Speaker of the now-dissolved People's Assembly Saad al-Katatni and Mahdy Akef pending investigations on allegations of insulting the judiciary.

Other top Brotherhood figures, including Osama Yassin, Safwat Hegazy, Essam al-Erian and Mahmoud Ezzat were also ordered arrested for inciting violence.

Thousands of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have defied a new warning from the military-backed cabinet and are continuing their sit-ins in the capital, Cairo.

The country's interim leaders have ordered police to end ongoing protests at two sites in the city. But Muslim Brotherhood said they had no option but to continue the month-long sit-ins.

Information Minister Dorreya Sharaf el-Din said Wednesday that the police are to end the demonstrations "within the law and the constitution."

The comments signal a move to break up the two main pro-Morsi protests -- one outside a mosque in eastern Cairo and another outside the main Cairo University camps -- was imminent.

But a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, Gehad el-Haddad, said the Cabinet's announcement reflected the rule of a "conspiratorial gang" that has no respect for the law, the Associated Press reports. He also dismissed as unfounded claims that the sit-ins posed a threat to security.

Interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei also on Tuesday implicitly condoned using force against the protesters as a last resort, but cautioned that any such use must be "within a legal framework."

NJF/NJF
 

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