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Egypt investigates complaints against ousted Morsi including inciting killing of protesters

US joins Germany in calling for release of former president as demonstrations continue in Cairo

Adam Withnall
Saturday 13 July 2013 22:30 BST
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Egypt’s public prosecutor’s office is investigating complaints against the ousted President Mohamed Morsi, as the US joined Germany in calling for his release and tens of thousands once again took to Cairo’s streets.

Morsi is accused along with other senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood of spying, inciting the killing of protesters and damaging the economy. The prosecutor’s office statement named eight other Islamist figures who are to be investigated, including the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader Mohamed Badie.

The Egyptian legal system allows complaints about anyone to be investigated for days or months before formal charges are brought, and can be triggered by any member of the public or police.

The news came as US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US joined Germany in calling for Morsi’s release. Angela Merkel’s foreign ministry yesterday asked for an “end to all restrictive measures considering Morsi”.

The former president has been kept at an undisclosed Defence Ministry facility, believed to be the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo, since his Muslim Brotherhood-led government was forcibly removed on 3 July.

And the Brotherhood have said they will not stop calling for protests until Morsi is restored to the seat of power.

They have maintained a constant vigil near a Cairo mosque, and last night tens of thousands once again took to the streets in peaceful demonstrations dubbed a “day of marching on” by Brotherhood leadership.

The gatherings are expected to continue into next week, as Essam El-Erian, a spokesman for the Brotherhood's political arm the Freedom and Justice Party, said on his Facebook page: “Next Monday a bigger crowd, God willing, in all the squares of Egypt - against the military coup.

”Egypt decides through the ballot box, through protests, and mass rallies and peaceful sit-ins. No one person, one elite group and military organisation will impose its decision on the people,“ he said.”

Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi is expected to swear in a new cabinet next week to enforce an army-backed ”road map“ to restore civilian rule.

The Brotherhood has rejected all involvement in political processes since Morsi’s deposition, and is unlikely to acknowledge the authority of the new cabinet.

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