Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood’s deputy leader

Egypt’s Interior Ministry says a key figure in the Muslim Brotherhood has been arrested after months on the run.

The Ministry says Essam el-Erian, the deputy leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, was apprehended in the early hours on Wednesday in an apartment in an eastern Cairo suburb.

Mr. El-Erian is one of the few senior Islamist figures still on the run.

The media-savvy Mr. El-Erian was among the group’s more moderate figures but turned hard-line and went into hiding after the July 3 coup that ousted President Mohamed Morsy, who hails from the same group.

Egypt’s new, military-backed authorities have cracked down on the group, arresting hundreds of Brotherhood figures and putting top leaders on trial on charges of inciting violence and murder.