Father of boy who brought ‘pro-Morsi’ ruler to school faces arrest

A prosecutor has ordered the arrest of an Egyptian man whose 15-year-old son was detained last month for owning a school ruler bearing a symbol associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the family's lawyer said today.

Mohamed Abdulghani Bakara was accused of “inducing” his son Khaled to take the ruler to school, the lawyer said, the latest sign of a widening crackdown on the organisation since the army ousted President Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood in July.

Two of the boy’s teachers, Ashraf Raslan and Hamidou el Kheish, also faced charges of “spreading chaos among school students” by inducing him to possess the ruler, judicial sources said.

Hundreds of Brotherhood members have been killed by security forces since Mr Morsi's overthrow. Authorities have jailed thousands more. Heba Morayef of campaign group Human Rights Watch said the case illustrated the "complete arbitrariness" of arrests since Mr Morsi's overthrow and risked intimidating voters ahead of a referendum on whether to accept a new constitution, scheduled for January 14th and 15th. – (Reuters)