Egyptian security forces arrested senior Muslim Brotherhood figure Essam El-Erian in the early hours of Wednesday, state television reported.
Police received a tip off that El-Erian, the vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Brotherhood’s political wing, was hiding in an apartment in Cairo’s upscale Fifth Settlement district. They cordoned off the area and arrested him.
Pictures of the arrest, published on the interior ministry’s social networking pages, show El-Erian smiling to the cameras.
El-Erian, who had an arrest warrant issued against him in July, faces charges including inciting violence against Brotherhood opponents before Mohamed Morsi was deposed as president, funding violent acts and thuggery.
During his time in hiding, El-Erian pre-recorded a number of video messages that were broadcast on Al Jazeera.
The most notable of these messages was directed at the country’s interim government or what El-Erian described as ‘coup leaders’, demanding they recognise their "mistakes" and “confess that they’ve sided with one particular faction against another.”
El-Erian was one of the few high-ranking Brotherhood members to remain at large after most, including Mohamed Morsi, had been arrested.
The Brotherhood, which was registered as an NGO, was banned on 23 September.
A case to dissolve the FJP is currently being reviewed after the State Commissioners Authority, a body that provides non-binding legal advice, recommended its disbandment.
