Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood supporters face murder, terrorism probe

Egyptian prosecutors have placed 250 Muslim Brotherhood supporters under investigation for murder, attempted murder and terrorism, Reuters reported the state MENA news agency as saying on Saturday.

In the wake of clashes on Friday that pitted followers of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Mursi against security forces, police arrested more than 250 Muslim Brotherhood loyalists.

The clashes, dubbed the “Friday of Anger” by Brotherhood supporters, saw more than 170 people killed.

Egypt has also intensified its clampdown against the Muslim Brotherhood by arresting four Brotherhood leaders in the Damanhor province.

Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities have arrested Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri, for supporting Mursi, a security source told AFP news agency on Saturday.

The Muslim Brotherhood received another blow, when the headquarters of its political arm, the Justice and Freedom Party, was torched in Alexandria, sources told Al Arabiya on Saturday.

On Saturday, Egypt’s interim government was mulling over whether to ban the Islamist movement. Egypt’s prime minister proposed disbanding the Muslim Brotherhood but according to a presidential official the government “is not into dissolving anyone.”

Mustafa Hijazi, a political advisor to the interim government, told journalists in a press conference that Egypt is in the process of legalizing all the groups operating in the public service domain but it “doesn’t accept” those who commit actions “outside the law or the authorities of police or army.”

Hijazi said the government will work to combat “terrorism and radicalism.” He added that Muslim Brotherhood loyalists have engaged in violence and not peaceful protests.

(With Reuters and AFP)