Security forces announced on Sunday the arrest of Dawoud Khairat Seliman, the former aide of alleged militant Mohamed Al-Zawahiri.
Al-Zawahiri was arrested at a Cairo security checkpoint last week and accused of joining a terrorist group and “disrupting national peace.”
Hany Abdel Latif, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said Seliman was arrested at a Nasr City flat in Cairo. He added that Al-Zawahiri’s aide is accused of providing arms to the now dispersed Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in.
Seliman was moved to Tora prison after his arrest, pending investigation, state-run Al-Ahram reported.
Al-Zawahiri, founder of Al-Salafeya Al-Jihadeya and the brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al- Zawahiri, was detained for 15 days by the Supreme National Security prosecution office, along with Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya leader Mostafa Hamza.
Al-Zawahiri and Hamza were arrested after warrants were issued; both leaders have previously been charged with similar crimes.
The Rabaa sit-in, which was set-up by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Nasr city on 28 June, was violently dispersed by security forces on 14 August, as was the other pro-Morsi sit-in at Al-Nahda Square. The dispersal triggered a nationwide wave of violence which left around 1000 people dead, although death tolls vary between organisations.
In a press conference held after the sit-ins’ dispersal, Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim provided the ministry’s account of the security forces’ activities in the dispersal of Al-Nahda and Rabaa.
Ibrahim listed weapons he said were confiscated from both sit-ins, including: 19 automatic rifles; one hand gun; 29 shotguns; 11 handmade weapons; 2622 bullets; 55 molotov cocktails; protective vests; wireless devices; bladed weapons and “riot tools”.
Additional reporting by Fady Ashraf
