The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood was beaten by police during his arrest, and his trial is part of an attempt by the military to eliminate its political foes, a defence lawyer said on Sunday.

Despite bloodshed in Egypt, Muslims and Coptic Christians Egyptians live in solidarity

Muslim Brotherhood-era Youth Minister Osama Yassin was arrested early Monday on charges of killing anti-Islamist protestors near the Brotherhood headquarters during 30 June unrest.

The Copts protested what they say is support of the administration of President Barack Obama for Egypt's ousted Muslim Brotherhood a claim that has also been leveled at Republican Senator John McCain.

Egyptian prosecutors on Monday charged leading Muslim Brotherhood figure Khairat El-Shater and Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazi with inciting violence against protesters in July.

President Obama’s allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood – and to the cause of Islamization as a whole – is very obvious; it is also disturbing that a United States President clearly places such loyalty ahead of the interests of the nation. It becomes less of a mystery, however, when one realizes that the President has direct family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood: His half-brother, Malik Obama, is – at least indirectly – a member of the organization.

Egyptian authorities arrested an Islamist militant on Sunday, saying he was close to the brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and had supplied arms to supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi, according to security sources.

Egyptian Army Spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Aly said on Sunday that the army has arrested five terrorists in North Sinai.

On Saturday, Egyptians marched from the Space Needle to Westlake Park to show solidarity with their loved ones caught in the violence.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, has denied establishing joint training camps with the Muslim Brotherhood in southern Gaza.

Prosecutors have ordered extensions to detentions of Islamist figures for another 15 days, as questioning continues over violence that erupted in Giza's Bein al-Sarayat neighbourhood, killing 23 and injured over two hundred more.

Egypt's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered the detention of Muslim Brotherhood chief for another 15 days pending an investigation into fresh allegations, judicial sources said.

Wafd Party Chief al-Sayyed al-Badawy has rejected holding parliamentary elections using the single-winner system, saying, “This issue is refused by all political parties involved within the National Salvation Front with Wafd Party on top."

Security forces, backed by army troops, dispersed sectarian clashes between Christians and Muslims in a Minya village late Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch has urged the Egyptian authorities to act to protect churches and religious institutions which have been under attack since the country's interim government began its crackdown on Islamists on August 14.

Amjad Qourshah, an Islamic studies professor at the University of Amman in Jordan with ties to the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), has unleashed a tirade of anti-Christian venom against Egypt’s Copts, accusing them of burning their own churches.

Copts whose church was one of dozens destroyed by Muslim Brotherhood supporters have returned to the charred house of worship, with their pastor vowing the violence suffered by his flock will make them "better Christians."

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas urged Egypt on Wednesday to reopen the border crossing with the Gaza Strip that was closed after a suspected militant attack on Egyptian policemen near the frontier earlier this week.

A security source from the interior ministry said on Wednesday that Islamic preacher Safwat Hegazi has been sent to Torrah Prison.

Several of Egypt’s Coptic Christian churches canceled Mass services last Sunday for the first time in more than 1,600 years amid the unprecedented wave violence against them.

The call for revenge raced through this village southwest of the capital and echoed from the loudspeakers of mosques last week as the military invaded two protest camps in Cairo, killing hundreds of supporters of the deposed president, Mohammed Morsi.