CAIRO — Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was being held by the authorities, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman said today (July 4). Mr Ahmed Aref said both Mr Morsi and senior aide Essam El Haddad were being held, but he did not know where. A security official added that they were being held at a military intelligence facility. The army’s move is the second time in Egypt’s two-and-a half years of turmoil that it has forced out the country’s leader. It pushed out Mr Mubarak and took power itself. This time, however, its removal of an elected figure could be more explosive. Elected with 51.7 per cent of the vote in last year’s presidential election, Mr Morsi took office vowing to move beyond his roots in the Muslim Brotherhood. But his presidency threw the country into deep polarisation. Those who took to the streets say he lost his electoral legitimacy because he tried to give the Brotherhood and Islamist allies a monopoly on power, pushed through a constitution largely written by his allies and mismanaged the country’s multiple crises. REUTERS