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Egypt's Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie 'suffers heart attack' in jail Egypt's Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie 'suffers heart attack' in jail
(about 2 hours later)
Mohamed Badie, the leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, suffered a heart attack while in jail but his condition has since stabilised, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper said on Saturday. The spiritual leader of Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has suffered a non-fatal heart attack in jail, the country's state newspaper has reported.
The state news agency Mena denied a report by the private al-Nahar website, that the 70-year-old Badie had died. Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's 70-year-old Murshid − or supreme guide − is one of hundreds of senior Brotherhood officials currently detained in a brutal state crackdown on the organisation that began on 3 July, the day Morsi was ousted as Egyptian president.
Badie and many other Brotherhood leaders have been arrested in recent weeks in the toughest crackdown the group has faced. State broadsheet al-Ahram reported on Saturday that Badie had suffered a cardiac arrest while in prison, but that he has since recovered. State news agency MENA denied a report that Badie had died, while Brotherhood spokesmen did not respond to immediate requests about his health.
Spokesman Gehad el-Haddad said he had no information on Badie's health when asked to respond to the reports. Sherief Abuel Magd, a longtime Muslim Brotherhood member and a friend of Badie's, said he could not confirm the report. But he claimed that any injury to the group's leader would not impede the Brotherhood's long-term future.
A medical team was sent to Torah prison on the outskirts of Cairo to assess Badie's condition earlier on Saturday, a security source told al-Ahram. "This will not cause disorder," said Abuel Magd, an engineering consultant. "If he dies, others can take his place. When Hassan al-Banna [who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928] died, the Muslim Brotherhood carried on."
The source said it had stabilised and that the heart attack was the result of the "bad psychological state that he is going through". Nevertheless, with or without Badie, the Brotherhood faces the greatest threat to its existence since the 50s, when Egypt's then president Gamal Abdel Nasser forced the organisation underground through a similar series of mass arrests. Since Morsi's July ouster, all but two of its senior members have been arrested or forced into hiding − including Badie's deputy, Khairat al-Shater, who is believed to be the member who wields the most influence within the organisation.
The two that remain say they are unable to make contact with any of their other colleagues − including the official, Mahmoud Ezzat, whom it was initially claimed had taken over Badie's leadership responsibilities after he was arrested.
"I can't contact him. I can't contact anyone," said Dr Mohamed Bishr, the most senior Muslim Brother still at large. When asked who was currently running the Brotherhood, Bishr said: "I don't know."
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