Egypt chief justice sworn in as interim president

The chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court was sworn in as interim president, taking over hours after the military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

A major crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood — the group from which Morsi hails, has also been launched.

In the highest profile arrest since Morsi’s ouster, security officials said that Mohammed Badie, supreme leader of the Brotherhood, was arrested in the Mediterranean coastal city of Marsa Matrouh, where he has been staying in a villa owned by a businessman with Brotherhood links.

He was flown to Cairo by military helicopter, according to the officials. He, and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater, are wanted for questioning on their role in the killing this week of eight protesters in clashes outside the Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters.

Morsi, who a year ago became Egypt’s first freely elected president, has been held in an unknown location since the generals pushed him out on Wednesday.

The Brotherhood announced it would boycott the new military-sponsored political process and called on its supporters to restrain themselves and not use violence.

“We declare our un-compromising rejection of the military coup staged against the elected president and the will of the nation and refuse to participate in any activist with the usurping authorities,” said the statement, which the group’s mufti Abdel-Rahman el-Barr read to the Morsi’s supporters staging a days-long sit-in in Cairo.

Morsi’s successor, judge Adly Mansour, took the oath of office at the Nile- side Constitutional Court in a ceremony broadcast live on state television.

According to military decree, he will serve as Egypt’s interim leader until a new president is elected. A date for that vote has yet to be set. Mansour used his first remarks as interim leader to praise the massive street demonstrations that led to Morsi’s ouster. June 30 “corrected the path of the glorious revolution that took place on Jan 25”, he said, referring to the revolt against autocrat Hosni Mubarak that began on Jan 25, 2011, and led to his ouster 18 days later.

“The most glorious thing about June 30 is that it brought together everyone without discrimination or division,” he said. “I offer my greetings to the revolutionary people of Egypt.”

The revolution, he said, must continue, so “we stop producing tyrants”.

Badie and el-Shater were widely believed by the oppositions to be the real power in Egypt during Morsi’s tenure.

Authorities have also issued a wanted list for more than 200 Brotherhood members and leaders of other Islamist groups. The leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm — Freedom and Justice Party — and another of Badie’s deputies have been detained. At least a dozen of Morsi’s advisers are also under house arrest.