Egypt leaders deny selective justice

The new leaders of Egypt have denied enforcing a “justice of vengeance” on their political opponents, a day after they arrest top leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said the arrests of senior members of the Brotherhood, the party his government overthrew in in a coup in July, was not selective justice.

“There is no justice of vengeance and no selective justice. There is law and it applies to everyone,” Fahmy said Thursday.

Mr Fahmy was responding to complaints from the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, that the new government was giving the appearance of targeting political figures.

Arrests

The three top leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including its general guide Mohamed Badie, were charged with inciting violence on Wednesday. Two are in custody, Mr Badie not yet been arrested.

Mr Mursi himself – Egypt’s President until last month – is in detention and facing a judicial enquiry into accusations of murder, and of conspiracy with the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group in 2011.

Relatives of Brotherhood leaders detained in the latest crackdown complain of rough tactics by the police.

The wife of top Brotherhood man Khairat al-Shater said the police used to knock before arresting her husband during the days of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

“This time they broke down the door and I found then standing right over me in the bedroom,” said Ezzat Tawfik, fully veiled as she spoke on a Brotherhood television station.

“They filmed my husband as he was getting dressed.”

Sit-in is ‘threat to national security’

On the streets of Cairo, Mursi supporters remain in an embattled sit-in protest camp despite a increased crackdown by the new government and the Egyptian army.

More clashes look likely as the protest camps have been branded a threat to national security by the new government.

Brotherhood leadership stand by their commitment to non-violence but supporters on the ground have become increasingly desperate.