Egyptian media hail arrest of Muslim Brotherhood's Badie Published duration 20 August 2013

image copyright Reuters image caption Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie after his arrest

Commentators on Egyptian TV have welcomed the arrest of the Muslim Brotherhood's general guide, Mohammed Badie.

Presenters congratulated viewers on the development, calling it "joyful news", and one expert argued that it had dealt a heavy blow to the Islamist group.

Muslim Brotherhood supporters, however, remained defiant. " We are all the general guide," said one tweet.

Viewers congratulated

News of Mr Badie's arrest broke in an urgent caption on state-owned Channel One . The network's security correspondent congratulated Egyptians on the development, hailing security agencies' efforts. An image of Mr Badie inside a police vehicle was shown.

Ahrar 25 TV and private The news was also reported in urgent captions on pro-Muslim Brotherhoodand private CBC TV

On private, pro-government ON TV , presenters also congratulated viewers on the development, urging the arrest of other senior figures in the Muslim Brotherhood.

A studio guest, political researcher Mahmud Mohi al-Din, expected them to be arrested "one after another". He predicted that Mahmoud Ezzat, named by the group as its caretaker general guide, would be among them.

"Muhammad Badie's arrest has served a blow to the Brotherhood and amounts to 60 per cent of its defeat," Al-Din said.

ON TV also broadcast "exclusive" video of a calm-looking Mr Badie after his arrest. Commenting on the footage, the presenter said: "Congratulations, the leaders of terrorism are falling. They were planning terrorism within our homeland."

The co-presenter said viewers had tweeted to tell him that women were "trilling" at homes across Egypt, which is a traditional sign of jubilation in the country.

'Joyful news'

Presenters of New Morning on state-owned Nile News TV were dressed in black as one of them spoke of "news as dark as our clothes". The other retorted that Mr Badie's arrest was probably "the only joyful news".

"Good Morning Egypt", on state-owned Channel One TV, interviewed Ahmad Ghubashi, a history professor at Cairo University. He doubted that the arrest was "the beginning of the end" for the Muslim Brotherhood, but said that the group should be banned as a way of implementing justice in Egypt.

'No mercy'

The anti-Muslim Brotherhood, pro-revolution Facebook page Ishkuri ya Insharah uploaded an image of Mr Badie's identity card as proof of his arrest.

Tamarod, the campaign opposing ex-President Mohammed Morsi, welcomed Mr Badie's arrest on its Facebook page: "The general guide who rejected the revolution then stole it and, finally, it [the revolution] beat him."

Activist and media figure Buthayna Kamil (@bothainakamel1) tweeted in Arabic: "Am I dreaming or not? Now there are two former presidents in prison, two advisors to the president, two general guides [of the Muslim Brotherhood] and a bunch of ministers. May this be a lesson for every official. The Egyptian people will have no mercy."

'We are all the general guide'

But pro-Muslim Brotherhood "Heroes of Raabiya" (@RabaaHeros, named after the focal point of pro-Morsi rallies) remained defiant. "They abducted the general guide? We are all the reverend guide," it tweeted in Arabic. A hashtag in Arabic, #I am the general guide, was also created.

The wording of the tweet and the hashtag are similar to "We are Khalid Said", a popular Facebook group which is seen as a key trigger of the 2011 revolution. Khalid Said's death while in police custody caused widespread outrage in 2010.

The Muslim Brotherhood's spokesman, Ahmad Arif, used his Facebook account to reiterate support for Mr Badie following his arrest.

"Revolution will never die," he wrote. "Our peacefulness is stronger than bullets. The coup is terrorism." His post was liked more than 800 times and shared 552 times in seven hours.