Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad held in Egypt
By Busolami Idowu
Egyptian police have arrested the Muslim Brotherhood’s main English-language spokesman, state media report. Mr Haddad was arrested on Tuesday along with the former governor of Qalyubia province, Hossam Abu al-Bakr, in a flat in the eastern Cairo suburb of Nasr City.
Mr Haddad had served as chief of staff of the Brotherhood’s deputy general guide, Khairat al-Shater, and often spoke to foreign media organisations. Prosecutors imposed the restrictions on the Brotherhood’s general guide, Mohammed Badie, Mr Shater and about a dozen others in July. Most have been detained over allegations of inciting violence and murder.
Hundreds of people demanding Mr Morsi’s reinstatement, most of them Brotherhood members, were also killed in clashes when security forces stormed two protest camps in Cairo last month.
There has been a crackdown on Islamist groups since the military ousted President Mohammed Morsi in July.
Earlier, the Cairo Criminal Court upheld an order to freeze the assets of senior figures in the Brotherhood and the former militant group Gamaa Islamiya, state media said.
Mr Haddad is a senior adviser and media spokesman for the Brotherhood. He is the son of Mr Morsi’s former foreign affairs adviser Essam al-Haddad, He studied at De Montfort University in the UK and is fluent in English.
He served as media strategist for Mr Morsi’s presidential campaign in 2011, and was interviewed frequently by foreign TV stations and newspapers before and after the president was deposed following mass protests. He was also active on social media, tweeting as @gelhaddad.
