MB leader Badie's alleged Gazan escort 'never visited Egypt'

GAZA CITY

A young Palestinian accused by Egyptian media of being a Hamas escort of Muslim Brotherhood supreme leader Mohamed Badie during his latest appearance has never visited the country.

"I have never visited Egypt before," Wagdy Saleh told an Anadolu Agency correspondent in Gaza.

"And I’m not a member of any Palestinian faction."

Egyptian media claimed Saleh escorted the Muslim Brotherhood leader when he showed up Friday in Rabaa Al-Adawiya square to address hundreds of thousands of ousted President Mohammad Morsi’s loyalists.

The media said the young Palestinian was a member of Ezzeddin Al-Qassam, the armed wing of Hamas, which they described as an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

"I don’t deny my support to Islamists, but I’m not a Hamas member and I have nothing to do with what is happening in Egypt."

The Egyptian media claimed Saleh was accompanied by two other alleged Hamas members, Maeen Al-Dabash and Bakr Sabah.

"I know them because they are my neighbors. But they are not members of any faction and are now here in Gaza."

AA could not reach either of the two men for comment.

Saleh accused the Egyptian media of a smear campaign against the Gaza Strip and its people.

"They are deceiving people and spreading lies to embroil Gaza in Egypt’s problems."

Several Egyptian media outlets have repeatedly accused Hamas of interfering in Egypt's affairs and providing military support for the Brotherhood, especially at the time of the January 2011 revolution.

Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, was removed from office by the powerful army on Wednesday after mass protests against his regime, and named the head of the constitutional court as interim president.

Thousands of supporters have taken to the streets to press for Morsi's reinstatement.

englishnews@aa.com.tr