Egypt army cracks down on Muslim Brotherhood

Cairo. Egypt’s army has rounded up the leadership of Muslim Brotherhood as a top judge took oath of office as country’s interim leader, a day after the military chief toppled President Mohamed Morsi from power.The army turned the screws on the Brotherhood on Thursday, with military police arresting supreme leader Mohamed Badie “for inciting the killing of protesters”, as Brotherhood supporters protested the abrupt end of Morsi’s one year rule.He, and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater, were wanted for questioning on their role in the killing this week of eight demonstrators in clashes outside the Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters.The military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday announced the removal of Morsi after days of nationwide protests by opposition groups calling for Islamist president’s ouster.A judicial source said the prosecution would on Monday begin questioning members of the group, including Morsi, for “insulting the judiciary” as the charges begin to pile up.Other Brotherhood leaders would be questioned on the same charges, including the head of the group’s political arm Saad al-Katatni, Mohammed al-Beltagui, Gamal Gibril and Taher Abdel Mohsen.Morsi and other senior leaders have also been banned from travel pending investigation into their involvement in a prison break in 2011.Morsi himself has been held in an unknown location since the generals pushed him out a year after he became Egypt’s first democratically elected president.The army also shut down several TV stations, including one operated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and the offices of Al Jazeera’s Egyptian news channel in Cairo.The announcement of the arrests on Thursday came as chief justice Adly Mansour, 67, was sworn in as interim president at a ceremony broadcast live from the Supreme Constitutional Court. On Wednesday evening, the military chief announced that the new interim president will serve until elections at a yet-to-be determined date, as he laid out a roadmap for a political transition that includes a freeze on the Islamist-drafted constitution.Dressed in a dark blue suit and a sky blue tie, Mansour used his first remarks as interim leader to praise the massive street demonstrations that led to Morsi’s ouster.He hailed the youth behind the protests that began on June 30 and brought out millions around the country.