WarSclerotic

Egypt’s Morsi ordered held over Hamas contacts | The Times of Israel.

( Really?  The head of MB held in Egypt over contacts with Israel’s primary Palestinian enemy?  That’s unbelievable!  “SHHhhhhh……” –  JW )

Hours before rival protests, interim rulers in Cairo announce investigation into 2011 jailbreak by Islamists

Supporter of Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday, July 25, 2013. (photo credit: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

CAIRO (AP) — An investigating judge has ordered the detention of Egypt’s ousted president over alleged contacts with Hamas to help in his escape from prison in 2011, the official state news agency reported Friday in the first official word on his status since a military coup on July 3.

The MENA news agency said Mohammed Morsi has been detained for 15 days for investigation into the charges. His detention can be extended as the inquiry continues. The news agency indicated that Morsi has already been interrogated.

The news of Morsi’s detention comes hours before pro- and anti-Morsi camps are expected to large rival protests in Egypt and may inflame already tense streets.

The case concerns the mass jailbreak of dozens of Muslim Brotherhood leaders during the popular uprising in 2011 that toppled Morsi’s predecessor, President Hosni Mubarak. There have been many reports in Egyptian media that the Brotherhood collaborated with Hamas, its Palestinian wing, and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon to arrange the breakout.

Muslim Brotherhood officials have said they were aided by local residents in breaking out of prison, not foreigners.

Egypt’s military has been holding Morsi in an undisclosed location since deposing him on July 3.

The MENA report said Morsi is being investigated over allegations of collaborating with Hamas “to carry out anti-state acts, attacking police stations, army officers and storming prisons, setting fire to one prison and enabling inmates to flee, including himself, as well as premeditated killing of officers , soldiers and prisoners.”

On Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Egypt’s interim rulers to release Morsi and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood or “have their cases reviewed transparently without delay.”

In a statement Thursday, Ban urged “the interim authorities to end arbitrary arrests and other reported forms of harassment.”

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who ousted Morsi, took many by surprise when he announced this week that he wanted people to take to the streets in large numbers on Friday to give him a popular mandate to take the necessary measures against “violence and terrorism.”

El-Sissi’s call was widely interpreted as a prelude to a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which Morsi hails, and other Islamists who have been camped out for about a month at sit-ins in Cairo and elsewhere calling for Morsi’s reinstatement.

That has hiked fears of a violent confrontation. Islamists also plan pro-Morsi rallies on Friday, raising the possibility of street clashes, as has happened repeatedly in recent weeks.

Islamists on Thursday lashed out at the military, saying el-Sissi’s call signals a plan to crush what they insist are their peaceful protests. The spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, hiked up his rhetoric against el-Sissi, saying ousting Morsi was a worse crime than if the general had destroyed the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site — an attempt to fire up the religious fervor in the pro-Morsi camp ahead of Friday’s rallies.

On the other side, state TV and pro-military private networks were doing their part to back el-Sissi: They announced that the wildly popular mini-series shown during the current holy month of Ramadan will not be aired Friday to ensure that large numbers go out onto the streets. Some of them were airing patriotic songs.

Late Thursday the White House said it would continue to avoid calling Morsi’s overthrow a coup, in order to keep sending $1.5 billion in aid to the country, seen as a stabilizing force in the region.

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