Egypt seeks to arrest more Brotherhood leaders

CAIRO - Egypt's Prosecutor General, Abdel- Maguid Mahmoud, has ordered a warrant to arrest Essam al-Erian, deputy chief of Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), on charge of inciting the killing of anti-president protesters, state-run Ahram online reported Sunday.

The warrant also includes MB's leader Mohamed Beltagi and Islamic preacher Safwat Hegazy.

According to the report, investigations revealed that they had hired thugs to kill opponents of ousted President Mohamed Morsi outside the MB's headquarters in Cairo.

The prosecution on Saturday evening have decided to detain FJP leader Mohamed Saad al-katatni; Rashad al-Bayoumi and Khairat al- Shater, two deputy general guides of the MB; as well as Mahdi Akef, the former guide of the group, for 15 days pending investigations.

With regard to the detention of some MB and Islamist leaders, Ahmed al-Mislimani, newly appointed presidential media adviser, has said late Saturday that the arrests were made "within a normal legal frame," reaffirming that none of the figures was politically arrested.