Libyan revolutionary brigades have closed the Libyan-Egyptian border crossing at Musaid, after the head of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood tried to flee the country’s political coup, reports Libya Herald.
Mohammed Badie, the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, have both been banned from leaving the country since yesterday’s military takeover. Badie, however, flouted the travel ban and tried to seek sanctuary in Libya.
Badie was reportedly arrested by the Egyptian army while being escorted towards the border by members of the Bedouin Awlad Ali tribe. Subsequent clashes with the Egyptian military left four tribesmen dead.
Head of the Tobruk Local Council, Faraj Yasin Obeidi, said that the revolutionary brigades had been deployed at checkpoints between the border crossing and Tobruk.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, whose Justice and Construction party is the second largest in Congress, has however said that any request for political asylum in Libya made by a Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood member, whether he was in government or part of the Jemaah Islamiyah, should be allowed. Bashir Alkibti added that what is happening in Egypt has to be seen as a military coup against the legitimate elected government and, as such, a major blow to democracy.
(Source: Libya Herald)
