Shater’s son arrested in dawn raid

Saad Khairat al-Shater, the 23-year-old son of the Muslim Brotherhood’s deputy leader, was arrested from his home in Nasr City in a dawn raid early Wednesday, state-run Al-Ahram reported.

At around 3 am, his brother Hassan al-Shater said on his Twitter account that “Saad has been arrested today from our home ... please pray for him ... May Allah protect him.”

Recounting the raid to the Freedom and Justice Party’s news portal, Ebada Tharwat, Saad al-Shater’s brother-in-law, said that over 15 armed security personnel stormed their house at 1:45 am looking for Shater.

The FJP’s portal claims that this was one of at least 64 arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members and their relatives conducted late Tuesday and early Wednesday across the country.

This figure was echoed by an Associated Press report, which quoted anonymous officials claiming that police have detained over 60 supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood over the past 24 hours, including relatives of top leaders.

This comes as part of a wide crackdown by the military-backed government, which continues to carry out a vast arrest campaign against Brotherhood leaders. Among those in detention are Khairat al-Shater himself and Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie.

Khairat al-Shater was arrested on July 2, and faces trial on charges of inciting the murder of protesters in front of the group’s headquarters in Moqattam on June 30, as well as the possession of explosives, rifles and other weapons.

On Wednesday, the Attorney General of the State Security Prosecution ordered the detention of Mohamed Salah Soltan, son of Muslim Brotherhood leader Salah Soltan. Al-Ahram reported that he will be detained for 15 days, along with three other members, pending investigations into charges of murder and belonging to a terrorist organization.