AKIPRESS.COM - Egypt has arrested two senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders, an official said as a court on Tuesday set a date for next week on its final ruling following the death sentence recently handed down to ousted President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Islamist group.

The two top Islamists — Abdel-Rahman el-Bar, the Brotherhood’s top religious cleric, and Mahmoud Ghozlan, the group’s former spokesman and a member of its top decision-making body — were arrested late Monday while hiding in Giza, a suburb outside Cairo, according to a security official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, reports Washington Post.

The arrests were the latest in an ongoing crackdown on the Brotherhood, which has been banned as a terrorist organization and which is accused of orchestrating attacks on policemen, judges, army officers, and public figures across Egypt.

The crackdown was launched after the military’s ouster of Morsi in July 2013. Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was overthrown after millions staged demonstrations demanding he step down. Dozens of Brotherhood leaders have been put on trial, and many were given death sentences. Scores have also gone into hiding.