‘Bodyguard’ arrested over unlicensed weapon

A man claiming to be Khairat el-Shater’s bodyguard is being held in custody on suspicions of detaining unlicensed weapons. The individual was apprehended on Saturday night outside a polling station in New Cairo. A message found on the suspect’s telephone read: “Special order: Do not mention the Muslim Brotherhood, the firearm or el-Shater.” When questioned, the man said it was from a friend prompting him to vote “Yes” in the referendum on the draft constitution. Photographs of the man with armed individuals were also found on the phone. When questioned about the pictures, the suspect claimed to have created them with photo-editing software. The prosecution ordered a technical analysis of the photographs to determine whether they are original or not. The suspect also claimed that the weapon he was carrying belonged to a retired army officer who had asked him to have it repaired. If the bodyguard admitted the incident, Muslim Brotherhood officials will be questioned by the authorities, lawyer Ahmed Abdelaziz told Arabstoday. Being guilty of using unlicensed weapons could result in prison sentence ranging from several months to over a year, added the lawyer.