Egyptian security forces today arrested one of the few prominent Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood figures who have thus far escaped a decapitation campaign being waged against the Islamist group by Egypt’s army-backed interim government:

The arrest of Essam el-Erian, the deputy leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, was the latest in a wide-ranging crackdown and prosecution of both the Islamist group’s leaders and its rank-and-file since the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, who also hails from the Brotherhood.

The move is likely to fuel ongoing analyst discussions outlining scenarios under which Cairo may succeed in largely collapsing the Islamist group’s influence inside Egypt.

Essam el-Erian, arguably the last senior Brotherhood official who had escaped being seized, had been a top adviser to Egypt’s former Brotherhood-linked president Mohammed Morsi. While in that position, he blamed Jews for the Boston terror attack, the war in Mali, the war in Syria, and the war in Iraq.

Any sort of rapprochement between the competing Egyptian factions remains unlikely, despite calls for reconciliation from top officials in the interim government:

Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Bahaa El-Din has been trying to encourage both sides to compromise since he put an initiative to the cabinet in August.

“Security is essential and key to Egypt but it is not alone going to get us where we want, and there has to be a political framework as well,” Bahaa El-Din told reporters.

“Ultimately this country needs to move towards a framework, of a political accord of some sort. It needs a political framework that is more inclusive for everybody.”

Brotherhood members have repeatedly rejected national reconciliation, and for their part military officials likely believe that the reassertion of Brotherhood power would lead to retaliation against the army.

[Photo: euronews / YouTube]