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Reports: Egypt Orders Arrest Of Muslim Brotherhood Leader

Prosecutors in Egypt have ordered that Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie be arrested, according to Egyptian state television and other news outlets.

NPR's Leila Fadel adds from Cairo that she's been told about the order by an Egyptian security official with knowledge of what's happening.

The BBC writes that "Mr. Badie is accused of inciting the violence in Cairo on Monday in which at least 51 people were killed." The Brotherhood and its supporters say their members did not provoke the security forces who fired on them.

According to Al Jazeera, "Gehad Haddad, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, said the movement's leaders had not been detained yet and the announcement of charges against Mohamed Badie and several other Brotherhood leaders was an attempt by the authorities to break up an ongoing vigil."

This is not the first time since last week's ouster and detention of President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, that it's been said that Badie either had been or would be arrested.

It was reported by NPR and other news outlets last Thursday that officals said Badie had been taken into custody. But on Friday, he appeared at a pro-Morsi rally in Cairo. He told those gathered that reports of his arrest had been "a lie."

We'll watch for developments.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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