Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Arrested in Cairo

CAIRO—Two senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested by Egyptian authorities in the most high-profile recent detentions of its leadership, the group said on Tuesday. Mahmoud Ghozlan and Abdul Rahman al Barr were detained late on Monday after police tracked them to a home in a Cairo suburb, a spokeswoman for the Muslim Brotherhood said in an email. Mr. Ghozlan is a former Muslim Brotherhood spokesman. Mr. Barr made rulings on religious affairs. Egyptian police officials didn't immediately return calls seeking comment. It wasn't clear what charges the two men would face. The men had been in hiding for two years as the government cracked down on members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the party of former President Mohammed Morsi, who was deposed in a coup in July 2013. Following Mr. Morsi’s removal, the new military-backed regime designated it a terrorist organization and arrested the entire top tier of the group’s leadership. Other senior leaders were able to escape arrest by fleeing to Turkey, Sudan and Qatar. The arrests and prosecutions of its leaders and rank-and-file members have been criticized as politically motivated by some Western governments and human-rights groups. The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt’s largest and oldest political opposition group, and has traditionally called for non-violence and political participation. It dominated parliamentary and presidential elections following the 2011 resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak, who stepped down after widespread protests against his regime. The news of the arrests came on the same day that a final verdict was delayed in a trial in which Mr. Morsi, along with 105 other leaders and members of the group, have been preliminarily sentenced to death. The mass sentence was issued on May 16, with the defendants accused of breaking out of prison in 2011 during the height of anti-Mubarak protests. Death sentences are reviewed by Egypt’s highest religious authority, the Grand Mufti, who traditionally offers an opinion on the verdicts before they are confirmed. On Tuesday, the presiding judge postponed the verdict, saying that more time was needed to review the Grand Mufti’s opinion.   Wall Steet Journal