Media reports say Brotherhood leaders escape after arrest

After a day of nationwide clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces, news of the arrest of three prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including himself, has been denied by Essam al-Erian on his Facebook page.

Media reports suggested that the leaders were arrested but then freed by armed men.

The Interior Ministry has also denied the arrests, despite earlier confirmation of them from Egyptian state TV.

Both state and privately-owned media had previously stated that special forces apprehended several Brotherhood leaders including Erian, who is vice president of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Mohamed al-Beltagy, a senior Brotherhood member, and Safwat Hegazy, a controversial cleric closely connected to the group.

The arrests had apparently taken place shortly after Central Security Forces forcibly cleared the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in in Nasr City this morning.

Several satellite TV stations, lead by Al-Hayat channel, reported that during the detainees' transfer to prison in a CSF vehicle, armed men attacked the truck, killing the driver and soldiers on board. The attackers succeeded in liberating the three leaders, who then fled to an unknown location, Al-Hayat reported.

All three members had been called in earlier by prosecutors to answer allegations of inciting violence against people opposing President Mohamed Morsi last year, but had not handed themselves in. They also faced pending criminal charges related to the killing of people demonstrating against the Brotherhood.

The Cairo Court of Appeal has set a hearing for September 7 to try Beltagy and Hegazy on charges of detaining two police officers at the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in at the end of last month and torturing them.