The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has posted a video to YouTube which shows a radical Egyptian cleric calling to kill the leaders of the country’s opposition.

The fatwa (Islamic ruling) by Salafi cleric Sheik Mahmoud Shaaban was aired by Al-Hafez TV via the Internet on February 1, 2013.

“The leadership of the National Salvation Front, which clearly aspires to the [presidential] throne, should be killed, according to Islamic law,” Shaaban says in the video. “Are you with me, Dr. ‘Atef? According to Islamic law, they should be killed.”

“The National Salvation Front, which wants the presidency, and whose leadership is setting fire to Egypt, in an effort to gain the presidency, should be killed,” he repeats.

Shaaban is a professor at Sunni Islam's main seat of learning in Egypt, Al-Azhar. His fatwa gives the green light to kill opposition leaders including former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and ex-presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi.

Another hardline cleric, Wagdi Ghoneim, recently urged President Mohammed Morsi to kill “thugs” and “criminals” who are burning the country, otherwise people will do it themselves.

According to an AFP report on Friday, security was stepped up outside the homes of ElBaradei and Sabbahi ahead of anti-Morsi protests throughout Egypt which the opposition had called for.

The Egyptian presidency has condemned the fatwas as "terrorism".

"Some are promoting and inciting political violence while others who claim to speak in the name of religion are permitting ‘killing’ based on political differences and this is terrorism," the presidency said, according to AFP.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)