Egypt arrests two more top Islamist figures

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday arrested two more Islamist figures: a top ally of the Muslim Brotherhood as he reportedly tried to flee to neighbouring Libya disguised as a woman, and a spokesman for the Islamist group on his way to catch a flight out of the country.

The arrests are the latest in a crackdown by Egypt’s new military-backed leaders against the Muslim Brotherhood group, from which ousted President Mohammed Mursi hails.

They came just a day after authorities detained the Brotherhood’s supreme leader and spiritual guide, Mohammed Badie, dealing a serious blow to the embattled movement that is now struggling to keep up street protests against the military’s overthrow of Mursi.

Badie was arrested in an apartment in the Cairo district of Nasr City, close to the site of a sit-in encampment that was forcibly cleared by security forces last week, triggering violence that killed hundreds of people.

Hundreds, including the group’s former lawmakers, politicians, and field operatives are already in custody.

Mursi and his top aides have been held at an unknown location, incommunicado since the July 3 military coup. The ouster of Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, came after four days of mass protests in Cairo and elsewhere demanding he step down for abusing power.