The younger brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has reportedly been arrested, as the military’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood continues amidst protests in Egypt.
From the Associated Press (via Washington Post):
Egyptian authorities have arrested the brother of al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri, a security official said Saturday.He said Mohammed al-Zawahri, leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, the city across the Nile from Cairo.Mohammed al-Zawahri’s group espouses a hard-line ideology but was not clandestine prior to Egypt’s July 3 coup. He was allied with ousted President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist, whose supporters are now taking to the streets to protest the killings of its supporters in a security crackdown last week.The official declined to give further details. He spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Earlier today, security forces stormed a mosque in Cairo that was filled with hundreds of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. Tear gas can be seen being dispersed inside the mosque as the sounds of gunfire could be heard in the background.
The son of the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is said to have been among 173 killed in Friday’s “Day of Rage” protests, according to NBC News. And more than 1000 of the Brotherhood movement’s supporters were reportedly arrested Friday.
Meanwhile, Egypt is said to be considering disbanding the Muslim Brotherhood.
From TIME:
Egyptian authorities are considering disbanding the Muslim Brotherhood group, a government spokesman said Saturday, once again outlawing a group that held the pinnacle of government power just more than a month earlier. […]Cabinet spokesman Sherif Shawki said that Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, who leads the military-backed government, assigned the Ministry of Social Solidarity to study the legal possibilities of dissolving the group. He didn’t elaborate.
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