Egypt

Suspect in Heikal’s villa arson detained four days pending investigation

Prosecutors on Saturday ordered the detention of the suspect accused of burning and robbing Mohamed Hassanein Heikal’s villa. The suspect will be detained four days pending investigation.
 
Prosecutors ordered the arrest of five other defendants belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jamaa Islamiya. They also asked for a copy of Homeland Security investigations with the defendants and requested criminal lab reports about the incident.
 
Prosecutors charged the defendants with robbery, arson and theft of police uniforms from the Mansouria police station.
 
Defendant Abdel Razaq, 23, admitted the charges but denied belonging to the Brotherhood.
 
Investigations revealed that the defendants fired at the guards, then burned the villa located on 25 acres of land. The defendants were allegedly responding to a speech by Fathi Shihab Eddin in which he blacklisted journalists, including Heikal. Edding, from Rabaa al-Adaweya, is the current chairman of the Committee on Culture and Media of the disbanded Shura Council. 
 
A rare copy of Description d’Egypte (documents of Egypt’s wars) and paintings by internationally renowned artists were burned during the robbery.
 
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
 

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