COURT ORDERS PRESIDENT MURSY TO GO BEHIND BARS

A top Egyptian court has ordered that the ousted Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, be officially detained pending charges that he collaborated with the Palestinian militant group Hamas to escape from jail during the Tahrir Square uprising of early 2011.
The announcement, made through Egypt’s state owned news agency, comes just hours before rival demonstrations by supporters and opponents of Mr Morsi that have raised fears of fresh street violence.
It is the first official news of Mr Morsi since he was taken into military custody at an unknown location on July 3, after refusing the army’s ultimatum to
call fresh elections amid mass street protests against his rule.
Supporters have held daily protests, claiming that he has been “kidnapped”, calling for his release and reinstatement and denouncing the case against him and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders as politically motivated.
The court ordered that Mr Morsi be detained for a further 15 days while investigators continue to interrogate him over a mass jailbreak of dozens of Brotherhood leaders during the popular uprising that toppled his predecessor, President Hosni Mubarak.
Prosecutors claim that the leaders of the Islamist organisation escaped with the help of militant allies from Hamas and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, allegations that could lead to capital charges of treason and spying.
The Brotherhood leaders had been detained by Mr Mubarak to prevent their taking part in the popular protests centred on Tahrir Square.
The official report said that Mr Morsi was 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”.
Brotherhood leaders insist that their escape was aided by local residents, not foreigners.
Allegations of Hamas’ role in the jailbreak have swirled around Egypt for months. Hamas are close ideological allies of the Brotherhood, the oldest and most influential Islamist organisation in the Arab world, and the two groups have long maintained strong links.
The court’s decision came amid indications of a wider judicial backlash against the Brotherhood as Egypt’s top association for judges announced that it was expelling 75 members after they expressed their support for Mr Morsi.
That move is seen as symptomatic of a larger campaign to remove the Islamists from public life, one that threatens to entrench widening divisions between secular and religious elements in Egyptian politics.
The army chief, General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, has called for millions of Egyptians to flood the streets today in demonstration of support for what he has labelled a “war on terrorism”.
Brotherhood leaders, who denounce Mr Morsi’s removal as a coup, called the general’s demand “an invitation to civil war”.