Mohamed al-Zawahiri arrested in Cairo
Former leader of Islamic Jihad and prominent figure in the Salafi Jihadi movement Mohamed al-Zawahiri was arrested in Cairo on Saturday, local media reported.
Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been telling his followers on Facebook that he is following the current conflict between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military with great interest and that his group will only intervene "at the right moment."
Zawahiri was released among other prisoners in March 2011, re-arrested and released again the following year. He had spent 14 years in prison on terrorism charges including the killing of former President Anwar al-Sadat.
Last year, he had offered to assist with mediation between Jihadi groups operating in Sinai and the government, in the wake of repeated attacks on police stations and military checkpoints in the peninsula.
It is unclear what charges lie behind Zawahiri's arrest. The government's announcement on Wednesday of a state of emergency for the coming month, however, is believed to provide a context for such arrests.
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