ElBaradei gets court date

Ex-Vice President ElBaradei was given a court date of September 19 to face a law suit filed in response to his sudden resignation, according to judicial sources on Tuesday. An Egyptian law professor brought the case against ElBaradei, citing his failure to follow the proper steps of leaving his post.

"He was appointed in his capacity as a representative of the [National Salvation Front] and the majority of the people who signed the Tamarod declaration," Helwan University law professor Sayyid Atiq said, referring to the opposition movement that had called for the removal of President Mohammed Morsi this summer.

"Dr. ElBaradei was entrusted with this position and he had a duty to go back to those who entrusted him and ask to resign," he said.

ElBaradei announced his resignation on August 14 in protest of the forcible removal of two Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo by security forces, which sparked deadly clashes between authorities and civilians in the days that followed. The ex-vice president subsequently left Cairo for Europe.

Brotherhood's Badie to stay in custody

The legal action against the former interim government leader came amid announcements of the prolonged detention of the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader on Tuesday.

Following interrogation by prosecutors, Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badie was remanded to 15 days in custody beginning Tuesday, according to Egyptian state media. The spiritual leader of the Islamist political group faces allegations of involvement in the deaths of protesters outside of the presidential palace in December, as well as inciting violence at a Republican Guard facility in June.

Egyptian authorities arrested Badie, 70, late Monday after receiving information about his whereabouts. They reportedly found him in an apartment in the Nasr City district in eastern Cairo. His hiding place lay in the vicinity of the Brotherhood's largest sit-in site, which Egyptian police forcibly cleared last week.

The military's removal of Morsi - who took office in 2012 as Egypt's first democratically elected president following the 2011 downfall of Hosni Mubarak - has heightened tensions between Muslim Brotherhood members and the opposition, which seeks fresh elections.

The Muslim Brotherhood has organized numerous counterdemonstrations in the weeks since the military installed an interim government. Many Brotherhood leaders and midranking members have since evaded authorities who have worked to quash mass calls for Morsi's reinstatement through crackdowns and arrests.

On Monday, prosecutors announced they would detain Morsi for 15 more days. He has remained at an undisclosed location since he was removed in early July.

EU leaders to meet

The unrest in Egypt has drawn concern from world leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to continue diplomatic efforts in an interview published in the Tuesday edition of the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

"We demand emphatically that the democratic process is restarted as quickly as possible and that all political powers can take part in it," she said.

EU foreign ministers are scheduled to convene for an emergency meeting on the crisis in Egypt on Wednesday.

At least 800 people, the majority of them Muslim Brotherhood supporters, are believed to have been killed since violence broke out last Wednesday.

kms/mkg (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)