• 11:55
  • Thursday ,02 January 2014
العربية

Egyptian police arrest son of senior Brotherhood figure

By-Ahram

Copts and Poliltical Islam

00:01

Thursday ,02 January 2014

Egyptian police arrest son of senior Brotherhood figure

Egyptian security forces have arrested the son of senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagy on charges of rioting and violent acts, a judicial source told Ahram Online.Egyptian security forces have arrested the son of senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagy on charges of rioting and violent acts, a judicial source told Ahram Online.

Anas El-Beltagy was arrested in Nasr City in eastern Cairo on Tuesday, along with two other men, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. The men were allegedly in possession of birdshot pellets, live broadcast cameras and banners bearing anti-army and pro-Brotherhood slogans, Al-Ahram reported.
 
The three young men, who are all students, are accused of rioting and violent acts at Cairo University and Ain Shams University.
 
An arrest warrant for the three was issued by the general prosecution, the judicial source added.
 
Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood have recently concentrated their protest movement at universities in Cairo and elsewhere, with deadly clashes between students and security forces intermittently reported.
 
El-Beltagy, a leader of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, was arrested late in August amid a broad crackdown on the group behind deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
 
His other son, 20-year-old Ammar, was briefly detained in the same month for inciting violence, and subsequently released.
 
El-Beltagy's 17-year-old daughter, Asmaa, was killed when security forces raided a pro-Morsi protest camp in Cairo on 14 August, leaving hundreds of protesters dead.
 
The government last week declared the Brotherhood a "terrorist organisation," after a suicide bombing killed 16 people in the northern city of Mansoura. The attack was condemned by the Islamist group and responsibility claimed by an unconnected militant group based in the Sinai Peninsula.
 
Hundreds of protesters, mostly Islamists, have been killed in violent unrest since the army toppled Morsi in July after massive protests calling for his ouster.
 
Thousands of others, including the group's upper echelon have been arrested.
 
Morsi himself is standing trial on an array of charges, including murder and conspiring against Egypt.