Will arrest of leader disable Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt?
Egypt recently arrested acting Muslim Brotherhood leader Mahmoud Ezzat, raising many questions about the fate of the organization in the country.
CAIRO — The ongoing struggle between Egyptian authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood took a new turn Aug. 28 when the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of the Brotherhood’s acting general guide and acting leader Mahmoud Ezzat inside an apartment in the Fifth Settlement district of New Cairo. Pro-regime media quickly described the arrest as a “valuable catch,” and considered it the end of the organization that has exhausted the authorities since the events of July 3, 2013, that ended Brotherhood rule in Egypt.
The Interior Ministry statement said Ezzat oversaw the management of terrorist and sabotage operations that the Brotherhood carried out over the years, namely the assassination of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat in a 2015 car bombing and the 2016 assassination attempt on Assistant Prosecutor General Zakaria Abdel Aziz, also via a car bombing. The ministry said Ezzat was responsible for managing the organization’s funds, supporting and financing suspicious international organizations and using them to offend the country and exert pressure on it.
