Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood leader Mahmoud Ezzat

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Egyptian authorities on Friday arrested a leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood hiding in an apartment in Cairo, officials said.

Mahmoud Ezzat, a deputy supreme guide for the Muslim Brotherhood, was previously convicted in absentia for organizing several terrorist attacks in Egypt. The Egyptian interior ministry said authorities captured Ezzatin an apartment in the Cairo suburb of Al Tajammu.

Ezzat is accused of being a founder of the Muslim Brotherhood's armed wing and supervising "terrorist and subversive" operations since it was removed from power in mid-2013 following an uprising supported by the army.

Authorities took a laptop and mobile phones with coded applications found at Ezzart's location Friday, authorities said.

Ezzat, 76, was accused of assassinating former Attorney General Hisham Barakat in 2015. Authorities also blamed him for the deaths of Brigadier Gen. Wael Tahoun at his home in Ain Shams district and Major Gen. Adel Rajai in Obour City.

Ezzat previously received two death sentences in absentia for spying for Hamas and a prison break in Wadi al-Natroun.

The Muslim Brotherhood gained renewed popularity in the "Arab Spring" of 2011, which led to the election of President Muhammad Morsi in 2012. He was removed the following year, which led Cairo to bar the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt