© ONTVMohamed Badie, the supreme leader of Muslim Brotherhood, was detained at a residential flat in Nasr City
Egyptian security forces have arrested the top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, state media has reported.
Badie, 70, the supreme leader of the Brotherhood, was detained on Tuesday at a residential flat in Nasr City in northeast Cairo, the state news agency said.
"That was after information came to the security apparatus locating his place of hiding," it said.
ONTV, a private, pro-military satellite channel, aired pictures purporting to show Badie upon his detention.
Badie and his powerful deputy Khairat el-Shater, who is in custody, will go on trial later this month for their alleged role in the killing of eight protesters outside the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters in June.
Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Cairo, said Badie had been seen in public only once since the deposed president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown and that, with his arrest, most of the Brotherhood's leadership are now in the custody of the military-led government.
"He made an appearance on stage at the sit-in protest at Rabaa Mosque," our correspondent said. That was the only time anybody seen him. He's been in hiding since then."
The Facebook page of the Interior Ministry also displayed the picture of Badie, dark rings under his eyes as he sat in a car with two men, with a caption confirming his arrest.
"Carrying out the decisions of the public prosecutor to arrest and bring forward the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie, and through collected information and observation of movements it was possible for the criminal search apparatus under the direction of Cairo's security (services) to arrest him " the caption said.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told Al Masry Al Youm, a newspaper, that Badie had been arrested in the early hours of Tuesday.
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