Mohamed Morsi likely to go to same prison as Mubarak

Egypt's deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, who has been accused of murder and other crimes, is likely to be transferred to the same Cairo prison where former leader Hosni Mubarak is now held, the interior minister said on Saturday. Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim also told a news conference that pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo would "God willing, soon ... dealt with" based on a decision by the prosecutor. Accoridng to the lastest numbers by hospital staff, 200 people were killed and 4,500 injured on Saturday when security forces opened fire on a protest by supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo. "With regards to the timing ... to disperse the protesters, there is complete coordination between us and the armed forces," the minister told a news conference. "There are still meetings going on to set the appropriate time to implement that plan according to the complaints submitted to the prosecutor on transgressions of the law by the protesters."

The minister, who accused the pro-Mursi camp of exaggerating the numbers killed in clashes, said security forces used teargas to disperse demonstrators on a bridge because of concerns they could cause the bridge to collapse.

But he argued the security forces had not used any live ammunition, but had instead suffered buckshot wounds and injuries from live rounds fired by protesters.

A Reuters witness, at a field hospital run by Mursi supporters, saw several demonstrators wounded by buckshot and with injuries medics said were caused by bullets.

He said a decision on where to hold Morsi, whose current location has not been announced, would be up to the investigating judge. When pressed by journalists about where Mursi would be taken, he said "mostly likely to Torah" prison.

Torah, on the edge of Cairo, is the jail where Mubarak, his sons and members of the former president's cabinet have been held after they were detained in the wake of the uprising that erupted in January 2011.

The Brotherhood is bracing for a broad crackdown by the army to wipe out a movement that emerged from decades of persecution during Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak, only to be deposed after a year in government.

The investigation into Morsi centres on accusations that he conspired with Hamas to escape from jail during the 2011 uprising, killing some prisoners and officers, kidnapping soldiers and torching buildings.

Morsi has said local people helped him escape during the upheavals, and the Muslim Brotherhood denounced the accusations levelled against him. Hamas challenged investigators to find "one piece of evidence" that it had meddled in Egyptian affairs.

"At the end of the day, we know all of these charges are nothing more than the fantasy of a few army generals and a military dictatorship," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said. "We are continuing our protests on the streets."