Egypt orders arrest of Muslim Brotherhood leader

CAIRO - Reuters

Egypt's prosecutor's office ordered the arrest on Wednesday of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie on charges of inciting violence outside the Republican Guard headquarters where 55 people were killed on Monday, state news agency MENA reported. Other senior Brotherhood officials were also ordered held, including Badie's deputy Mahmoud Ezzat and party leaders Essam El-Erian and Mohamed El-Beltagi.

Thousands of Brotherhood followers have been maintaining a vigil near a mosque in northeast Cairo demanding the reinstatement of Mohamed Mursi, toppled as president by the army last week.

Brotherhood says leaders not arrested

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said its leaders had not been detained by midday on Wednesday after prosecutors ordered them arrested on charges of inciting violence.

Spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the announcement of charges against Mohamed Badie and several other Brotherhood leaders was an attempt by the authorities to break up a vigil by thousands of Brotherhood supporters demanding the reinstatement of Mohamed Mursi, ousted as president by the army last week.

The charges were "nothing more than an attempt by the police state to dismantle the Rabaa protest", he said by telephone from the vigil at Rabaa Adaweya mosque in northeast Cairo. He said some of the leaders whose arrest was being sought were now at the site of the protest