CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities today continued their crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies by arresting two more highprofile Islamist figures, while officials said that they had started a closed hearing in a prison outside Cairo on whether to release jailed expresident Hosni Mubarak.

The arrested Islamists include a preacher known for his fiery sermons who was reportedly caught as he tried to flee to neighboring Libya in disguise, and a spokesman for the Brotherhood said to be on his way to catch a flight out of the country.

They are the latest allies of President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood, to be arrested. On Tuesday, authorities detained the Brotherhood’s supreme leader and spiritual guide, Mohammed Badie, dealing a serious blow to an embattled movement now struggling to keep up its protest campaign against the military’s overthrow of Morsi and subsequent deadly assaults on pro- Morsi sit-ins.

Officials, meanwhile, said that a court was conducting hearings in Tora prison near Cairo over whether Mubarak could be released.

A court ruling earlier in the week raised the possibility that Mubarak could walk free, a move that would fuel the unrest roiling the country after the autocratic leader’s successor was removed in a military coup.