Soldiers stop cars at a checkpoint during curfew hours in Cairo yesterday. 

CAIRO: Egypt’s army-backed authorities detained the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader yesterday, signalling their determination to crush the group and silence protests against the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

Badie was charged in July with incitement to murder in connection with protests before Mursi’s ouster and is due to stand trial on August 25 along with his two deputies. 

Media footage showed the bearded leader sitting grim-faced in a grey robe near a man with a rifle following his detention in the early hours.

The US condemned the detention of Badie, whose 38-year-old son was killed on Friday, while the Brotherhood denied reports that it had appointed a temporary leader. 

The state news agency said Badie was in Cairo’s Tora prison, where other Brotherhood leaders are held. Mubarak is also jailed there and a court will examine a bail petition for him, 85, today.

Mursi has been held in an undisclosed location since the army toppled him following mass protests against him. The Brotherhood, which renounced violence decades ago, has promised peaceful resistance to the army takeover. Agencies