Top Brotherhood official to be tried over protester deaths

A high ranking Muslim Brotherhood official will be tried in Egypt for his alleged involvement in the deaths of seven demonstrators who were killed in mid-July clashes.

Mohammad Badie, the Islamic group’s spiritual leader, will be summoned to court along with a number of other top Brotherhood representatives, including Brotherhood leader Mohammed el-Beltagy over the deaths, which occured during protests following the military’s ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in early July.

The date of the trail has yet to be determined, according to AFP.

Badie is currently involved in another court case and will be tried for incitement, after he allegedly called for the murder of anti-Morsi demonstrators.

He is also suspected of playing a role in bringing about the deaths of several demonstrators who stormed and torched Brotherhood headquarters on June 30, AFP reported.

More than 2,000 Brotherhood members have been arrested by Egyptian authorities since Morsi’s ouster in early July, as part of a crackdown on the group.

The wave of trials against Brotherhood officials comes as the Egyptian army has initiated a massive crackdown on jihadi militant groups operating in the Sinai peninsula. Last week, Armed Forces spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said that helicopters had provided air cover for what was “the biggest security operation” in the northern Sinai in years.

On Sunday, the Sinai-based terror group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt against Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim on Thursday, and vowed to carry our further assaults against Egyptian officials.

“God allowed us to break the security system of the minister of interior… through a suicide operation committed by one of Egypt’s lions that made the interior butcher see death with his eyes, and what is to come will be worse,” read a statement posted Sunday on the group’s website.

The group, which has claimed responsibility for attacks against Israel, also called on Egyptians to “stay away from all military and interior ministry installations to preserve their lives.”

Ibrahim survived the attack, but at least 22 people were wounded, including two policemen and a child. An unidentified body that likely belonged to an attacker was found at the site of the attack, according to security officials.

Sinai has been roiled in unrest and lawlessness for years, but Islamic militants have carried out more frequent and deadlier attacks on security forces there since Morsi’s ouster.

Some of Morsi’s more hard-line supporters have publicly threatened to wage a campaign of assassinations and car bombings against officials of the military-backed government until the former president is reinstated.

Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was toppled after days of protests by millions of Egyptians who demanded his departure after a year in office. During the six-week long sit-in protest in Nasr City, many of his supporters said they would fight the military-backed government al-Qaida-style, with suicide bombings, roadside bombs and assassinations.

Morsi has been held in an undisclosed location since being pushed out of office. Hundreds of Brotherhood leaders and supporters have been detained since the coup, including Badie, and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater.