Egypt’s Interior Ministry confirmed Thursday the arrest of senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed al-Beltagi in a village in the Giza province. In a statement, the ministry said Beltagi was arrested along with other Muslim Brotherhood figures Khaled al-Azhari, a former labor minister, and Gamal al-Shaaer, a former lawmaker. The three were arrested in a house owned by a Muslim Brotherhood member in Tersa village in Giza. A security source told Anadolu Agency the Muslim Brotherhood leaders did not resist arrest. “They have been moved to Tora prison complex under heavy police escort,” added the source. Egyptian authorities have unleashed a massive crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since the military ousted Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, on July 3 following mass protests against him. In a video message aired by Doha-based Al-Jazeera television earlier, Beltagi has called on Morsi supporters to be “patient”, ahead of mass Friday rallies called for by allies of the ousted leader. “I remind you and myself that desperation is not a trait of the honest people, but to have confidence in the promise of God,” al-Beltagi said. The National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, a coalition of largely Islamist groups and figures supportive of Morsi, has called for mass demonstrations on Friday with the aim of “reclaiming the January revolution” that toppled Egypt’s long-time President Hosni Mubarak who ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades. In a statement on Wednesday, the alliance called on supporters to “continue peaceful [protest] activities until the January 25 Revolution is reclaimed.” The coalition also announced a civil disobedience campaign as of Friday as an “effective measure against the coup leaders to force them to end the coup and achieve revolutionary demands.” In his televised message, Al-Beltagi said “our cause is a just one and we are looking forward to an honorable life without dictation from any party at home or abroad”. “We sacrifice for the sake of the homeland, not for personal interest,” al-Beltagi said. Al-Baltagi’s 17-year-old daughter Asmaa was one of hundreds of demonstrators killed earlier this month in the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo and Giza. In an earlier video tape on Monday, al-Beltagi lashed out at the army and police, accusing what he called coup leaders “of using the pretext of fighting terrorism to justify the coup and deceive the people”.
World Bulletin