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Egyptâ€™s Muslim Brotherhood leader suffers heart attack: Report

31 August 2013 23:52 (UTC +04:00)

On Saturday, the 70-year-old was in a stable condition in Torah prison on the outskirts of Cairo, the state-run newspaper al-Ahram reported.

However, the al-Nahar website cited security forces as saying that Badie had died from the heart attack.

Later in the day, the Interior Ministry said on its Facebook page that the Brotherhood leader was "enjoying good health" and dismissed reports that he had died.

But, the Interior Ministry did not state clearly whether it was denying just the death of Badie or the death and the heart attack.

On July 3, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that Mohamed Morsi, a leading former member of the Brotherhood, was no longer in office and declared that the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, had been appointed as the new interim president of Egypt. The army also suspended the constitution.

Army officials said that Morsi, who took office in June 2012, was being held “preventively” by the military.

On July 5, Badie said the coup against Morsi was illegal and millions would remain on the street until he is reinstated as president.

Badie vowed to "complete the revolution" that toppled the Western-backed regime of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The army-appointed government has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi supporters and arrested more than 2,000 Brotherhood members, including Badie, who was detained on August 20.

On August 25, Badie’s lawyer accused police of abusing the Brotherhood leader in prison.

“He was beaten and humiliated with foul language towards his father and mother. He was also punched in the face where he lost his set of false teeth due to the intensity of the beating,” said lawyer Mohamed Gharieb.

About 1,000 people were killed in a week of violence between Morsi anti-coup protesters and security forces after police dispersed their protest camps in a deadly operation on August 14.

One of Badie's sons was killed during the crackdown on the protesters calling for Morsi’s reinstatement.

The massacre sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.