Egypt's Brotherhood deputy leader 'forced' to meet US envoy

Deputy leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Khairat al-Shater was brought in "against his will" to a meeting Sunday with a group of international envoys that included a senior American diplomat, his son told the Anadolu Agency. "The meeting took place against his will. He had refused to meet them," said Hassan Khairat al-Shater, referring to the jailed Brotherhood leader's meeting late Sunday with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled bin Mohamed al-Attiya and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nuhayan in Cairo. "He refused to speak on behalf of people demonstrating in the streets and asked the prison administration to tell the delegation that the only person mandated to talk with was the legitimate president, Mohamed Morsi," he added. "The delegation has expressed a desire to talk and negotiate a settlement to the current political crisis in the country but he insisted that they should be talking to President Morsi," said Hassan. "They suddenly took him to the warden's office where he found himself face to face with the delegation. For an hour he refused all their attempts to convince him to talk, insisting that they should be talking to President Morsi." Al-Shater is currently held behind bars and he is facing charges of inciting deadly violence against opponents.   The Egyptian capital has been abuzz with diplomatic activity in recent days, with officials coming from four continents for talks aimed at resolving Egypt's political impasse. Pro-Morsi demonstrators have been staging daily mass rallies and sit-ins nationwide since he was ousted by the powerful military on July 3 following mass protests against him. The two largest sit-ins are in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares.