Egypt Muslim brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie arrested order

Egypt's state prosecutor has issued an
arrest warrant for the leader of the
Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and
at least nine other senior figures.
Mr Badie is accused of inciting the violence
in Cairo on Monday in which more than 50
people were killed.
Many Brotherhood members are already in
detention and warrants are said to have
been been issued for hundreds more.
Meanwhile, a foreign ministry spokesman
has said ousted President Mohammed
Morsi is being held in a "safe place".
Badr Abdul Atti told reporters he did not
know where the 61 year old was, but that
he was being treated in a "very dignified
manner".
"For his own safety and for the safety of
the country, it is better to keep him in a
safe place. Otherwise, the consequences
will be dire," he added.
Mr Abdul Atti is reported to have denied
that Mr Morsi was being detained at the
Presidential Guard barracks in Cairo, as
many believe.

The Brotherhood, to which he belongs,
says his ousting by the military a week ago
amounted to a coup.
Its supporters have since been staging
protests outside the capital's Rabaa al-
Adawiya mosque, not far from the
barracks, demanding his release and
reinstatement.
The movement's political wing, the
Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), has said it
will not accept an offer to join the cabinet
being set up by interim Prime Minister
Hazem al-Beblawi, a 76-year-old economist
and former finance minister who was
appointed on Tuesday.
The arrest warrants could scupper any
attempts to persuade the Brotherhood to
participate in the transitional political
process.
'Remain peaceful'
Spokesman Gehad el-Haddad said the
charges against Mr Badie, known as the
General Guide, and other senior leaders,
were "nothing more than an attempt by
the police state to dismantle the Rabaa
protest".
Prosecutors also said they had ordered
200 people - believed to be Brotherhood
members - to be held in custody for at least
15 days pending further investigation into
accusations of murder, incitement to
violence, carrying unlicensed weapons and
disrupting public order. Another 450 have
been released on bail.
There were conflicting reports about what
happened on Monday, with the interim
authorities being accused of a cover-up.

The Brotherhood maintains that soldiers
carried out a massacre of peaceful
demonstrators, who had been taking part
in dawn prayers outside the Presidential
Guard barracks.
But the police and the military say they
acted in self-defence, and had opened fire
only after being attacked by armed
assailants.
More than 50 Brotherhood supporters
were killed, as well as a soldier and two
policemen.
On Wednesday, 15 leading Egyptian human
rights groups expressed their "strong
condemnation of the excessive use of
force" against Brotherhood supporters,
and called for an independent
investigation into Monday's violence.
The previous Friday, Mr Badie had
appeared at a rally outside the mosque,
telling the crowd: "We shall stay in the
squares until we bring President Morsi
back to power."
He said their protests would remain
peaceful and called on the army not to
"direct your arms against us".
The BBC's Jim Muir, in Cairo, says the
protest now covers several square
kilometres of the capital, and to clear it out
forcibly would almost certainly involve
further bloodshed.
There is a feeling among the protesters
that they have returned to the situation
they were in under former President Hosni
Mubarak, when the movement was banned
and its members hunted down, our
correspondent adds.

The timetable for new elections,
announced in a constitutional declaration
by interim President Adly Mansour on
Monday evening, laid out plans to set up a
panel to amend the suspended constitution
within 15 days.
The changes would then be put to a
referendum - to be organised within four
months - which would pave the way for
parliamentary elections, possibly in early
2014.
Once the new parliament convenes,
elections would be called to appoint a new
president.
A spokesman for Mr Mansour said posts in
the cabinet would be offered to the FJP, but
senior party official Mohamed Kamal told
the BBC: "We will never take part in any
cabinet as long as Morsi is not back as a
president."

The FJP's deputy chairman, Essam al-Erian,
earlier said the constitutional declaration
had been issued "by a man appointed by
putschists". The text does make clear that
Mr Mansour and his government draw
their authority only from the commander
of the armed forces, who deposed
President Morsi.
The main liberal coalition, the National
Salvation Front (NSF), expressed
reservations about the decree, saying it
was not consulted and that it "lacks
significant clauses while others need
change or removal".

The grassroots Tamarod protest
movement, which organised the
demonstrations that led to Mr Morsi's
overthrow, said the decree gave too much
power to Mr Mansour.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates and Kuwait - who are opponents
of the Muslim Brotherhood - have
promised Egypt's interim government $
12bn (£8bn) in grants, loans, and gas and
oil.

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