BBC News, Cairo
Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen were almost baffled by the prosecutor’s move to issue arrest warrants for Mohammed Badie.
Mr Badie is the movement’s general or supreme guide, to whom every new member is required to pledge an oath of allegiance. So, his detention would enrage the thousands of Brotherhood supporters camped outside Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, where they are vowing to remain until President Mohammed Morsi is released and reinstated.
Mr Badie and a handful of other Brotherhood leaders escaped arrest when the army deposed Mr Morsi a week ago. He has since addressed the crowd at the mosque and vowed not to give an inch until the democratically elected government is restored.