Top Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested in Egypt

Two top leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested by Egyptian authorities for forming a terrorist cell that passed on information on state institution to foreign bodies, the latest in a crackdown on the banned outfit.

Cairo: Two top leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested by Egyptian authorities for forming a terrorist cell that passed on information on state institution to foreign bodies, the latest in a crackdown on the banned outfit.

Mahmoud Ghozlan, the group's former spokesman and Abdel-Rahman el-Bar, the Brotherhood Mufti, were arrested yesterday in Giza, an official said.

They were arrested for being involved in forming a terrorist cell that received fund from abroad to gather intelligence information on state institution and send it to foreign bodies and to the international Brotherhood organisation.

The Brotherhood official spokesperson Mohammed Montassir confirmed the arrests on his Facebook page and described it as a failed attempt by the brutal coup authorities to disrupt the revolutionaries across the nation.

"We do not fear your arrest or prison, we are free even inside jails," he said in his statement.

"We are on our path steadfast until achieving freedom and dignity," he said.

The arrests came few hours after the Egyptian authorities announced that they had foiled a major plot by the Muslim Brotherhood against the country.

A statement aired by the state TV said that the Brotherhood's international "terrorist" organisation had formed cells to gather intelligence information to use while launching attacks against the country's institutions, army personnel, judges, media people, political and public figures.

The statement, which was issued by security agencies, added that the Brotherhood "terrorist group" in Egypt was gathering the information to send it to their international organisation abroad and some foreign bodies.

The organisation also used hackers, belong to it, to hack official websites of ministries and some pages belong to army and police officers to gather and spread information to destabilise people's confidence in the country's institutions and delaying the completion of the road map.

The international organisation also planned to send money and weapons to its cells in Egypt, the statement said.

The statement said that the plot began in 2012 under former president Mohammed Morsi's rule and was organised by leaders of the group including its deputy chief Khairat al-Shater and others, who have been arrested and currently in prison.

The arrests were the latest in an ongoing crackdown on the Brotherhood.

The crackdown was launched after the military's ouster of Morsi in July 2013. Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was overthrown after millions staged demonstrations demanding he step down. Dozens of Brotherhood leaders have been put on trial, and many were given death sentences. Scores have also gone into hiding.

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