Senior Brotherhood Leader Beshr Faces 'Spying' Charges

The Egyptian prosecution on Thursday ordered senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Ali Beshr be jailed for 15 days pending investigations into charges of "spying for foreign countries," a judicial source said.



According to the source, Beshr also faces charges of incitement to acts of violence and leading a "terrorist group."



Beshr, a former local government minister under ousted president Mohamed Morsi, was arrested earlier in the day upon an arrest warrant issued by the prosecution.



Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was ousted by the military in July of last year following massive opposition protests against his rule.



Ever since Morsi's overthrow, Egyptian authorities have maintained a harsh crackdown on his supporters, detaining thousands and killing hundreds.



Late last December, Egyptian authorities branded the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails, as a terrorist group.



The pro-Morsi National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy termed Beshr's arrest as part of a "fierce campaign against its components."



"Beshr's detention is undoubtedly a new loss to the Egyptian political scene," the bloc said in a Facebook statement.



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