Egypt’s Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that it arrested 13 alleged fugitive leaders of the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group who “were planning to spread false rumours to incite people to protest against the state, as well as spreading chaos,” in conjunction with the Rabaa Dispersal fifth anniversary.
“The National Security Agency has recognised a plot set up by some of the fugitive Brotherhood leaders living abroad, which aim at reviving the group activities (inside the country) through spreading false rumours (among people),” read the ministry statement.
“Those leaders provided financial support for their members inside the country to ensure the implementation of the plot,” the ministry added.
The ministry further noted that it received information that the alleged leaders who came from Sohag and Beheira, planned to hold meetings for their plot.
“(The security forces) identified and arrested the 13 members, six leaders in the Six of October city, who were at large from Sohag, and seven others in El Mahmoudiyah, Beheira.”
Furthermore, the ministry said that it possessed “publications of written assignments, a computer, and large sums of money in different currencies.”
On the14th August 2013, the state’s security forces violently dispersed the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in, arresting hundreds of people most of whom are currently on trial including the independent photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, known as Shawkan.
The protesters taking part in the sit-in, were demonstrating against the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
