Cairo: Egyptian authorities arrested two top leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood after two years on the run, as the final verdict of former President Mohammad Mursi was postponed until June 16.
The arrests are part of a massive government crackdown on the 87-year-old Brotherhood launched after the military ouster of Mursi in July 2013. Mursi, who hails from the Brotherhood, was overthrown after millions staged demonstrations demanding he step down.
The two detained leaders are Abdul Rahman Al Bar, the group’s top religious cleric, and Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Brotherhood’s former spokesman and a member of its top decision-making body, an official said, adding that they were hiding in a Giza suburb when they were arrested Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press.
A Brotherhood spokesman Mohammad Montassir described the arrests on his Facebook page as a “failed attempt by the brutal coup authorities to disrupt the revolutionaries across the nation.”
He added that the Egyptian government would fail to “terrorize” the Brotherhood and vowed, “We are on our path steadfast until achieving freedom and dignity.”
Once the country’s most influential political group, dozens of Brotherhood leaders have been put on trial, with many receiving death sentences.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian court was expected to look into Mursi’s death sentence, over a mass prison break during Egypt’s 2011 uprising that eventually brought him to power.
On May 16, a court sentenced Mursi to death and referred the case to Egypt’s top Muslim cleric for a consultative opinion - a normal step for all death sentences. The session Tuesday will consider the response from Grand Mufti Shawki Allam.
The crackdown on the Brotherhood had ignited divisions within the group’s highly disciplined ranks. A younger generation is pushing for more violent and confrontational tactics, analysts say, while the older generation - at least in their official announcements - is insisting on “peaceful means” of resistance.
The group so far has distanced itself from the assassinations and suicide bombings that have rocked the country over the past two years.
