Egypt on Thursday arrested a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader who was a key negotiator between the government and the now blacklisted group, security officials said.
Mohamed Ali Bishr was one of the last top Brotherhood members to have escaped a crackdown by the authorities and had served as a cabinet minister under ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, according to AFP.
Bishr was arrested at his Nile Delta a week ahead of planned anti-government protests called for by a radical group, the Salafi Front. The security source said Bish is accused of “inciting violence”, calling for anti-government protests and “membership in an illegal group”.
Abdel Moniem Abdel Maqsud, a defense lawyer for the Brotherhood, said Bishr is also “accused of espionage”.
A government crackdown on supporters of Morsi, who was ousted by the army in July 2013, has left at least 1,400 people dead and more than 15,000 jailed.
Hundreds have also been sentenced to death after often speedy trials.
Morsi and other top figures are facing trial and the movement has been declared a “terrorist organization”.
Jordan Detention
Meanwhile, Jordan arrested the deputy head of the country’s Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday for criticizing the UAE’s move to designate the political movement and its local affiliates a terrorist group, official sources said.
Zaki Bani Rushaid was detained shortly after a late night meeting at the party’s headquarters in Amman, these people said, marking the first arrest of a major political opposition figure in Jordan in recent years.
The state security prosecutor general ordered his arrest on charges of “souring relations with a friendly country” after he wrote an opinion column attacking the Persian Gulf state’s role in a regional crackdown on dissent.
Jordan has long clamped down on dissent against Persian Gulf monarchies that are political allies and the kingdom’s main financial backers.
