Turkish media reported last week that Lebanon had deported to leaders of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood back to Egypt where one was wanted on charges relating to the August 2013 dispersal of Cairo sit-in supporters of the now deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. According to a Turkish Press.com report:
Lebanon
CAIRO – Egyptian prosecution authorities on Wednesday began interrogating two Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders deported by Lebanon late Tuesday, a lawyer for the Islamist group said.
Mokhtar al-Ashri, a leading member of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, and Mosaad al-Barbari, director of the Brotherhood’s Ahrar 25 satellite channel, were arrested in Beirut by Lebanese security forces on April 3 before being deported to Egypt on Tuesday.
“Al-Barbari was taken from the Cairo airport to the prosecution office, where he was questioned about the case known as the ‘Rabaa operations room’,” the lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Anadolu Agency.
Al-Barbari is one of 51 figures charged with “plotting to sow sedition” and setting up an “operations room” to resist authorities during last August’s bloody dispersal of a Cairo sit-in staged by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Al-Ashri is also being questioned over charges that have yet to be made public, the lawyer said.
According to the attorney, the Lebanese authorities arrested al-Barbari for violating Lebanon’s labor laws and al-Ashri for using a false identity – charges both men deny.
This is the first known instance of cooperation between Lebanese and Egyptian authorities regarding the Muslim Brotherhood. We reported last month that that Egyptian authorities were coordinating with Arab Gulf countries in an attempt to arrest and extradite fugitive members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
