Egypt’s prosecutor-general has referred opposition activist and former MP Hamdy El-Fakharani to a criminal court on charges of inciting people to torch the Muslim Brotherhood’s office and the City Council building in the industrial city of Mahalla.

El-Fakharany is a member of the National Salvation Front (NSF), Egypt’s leading opposition umbrella group.

On Wednesday, El-Fakharany stated that he had been arrested in the Nile Delta governorate of Beheira and taken to Cairo, where he was referred to High State Security prosecutors for questioning before being released on bail.

El-Fakharny stands accused of inciting violence against the Muslim Brotherhood – the group from which President Mohamed Morsi hails – during nationwide clashes that erupted in the wake of the second anniversary of Egypt’s 25 January 2011 revolution.