Mansoura (Egypt): A senior leader of Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement, Safwat Khalil, has died in jail in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, according to reports from the region.
Khalil, 59, who had cancer, died in custody Thursday shortly after a court ruling that ordered his release and that of 48 members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Khalil's death in prison was confirmed by the Muslim Brotherhood which accused Egyptian authorities of "reluctance" to release Khalil even after the court order.
He was due to be freed Saturday after being arrested last month along with scores of Brotherhood supporters on charges of inciting violence and possession of weapons.
Khalil's health had recently deteriorated, especially after he was taken to court in a police van instead of an ambulance, according to one of his lawyers.
Thousands of people were reported to have taken to the streets to hold peaceful protests in Egypt days after a Cairo court Monday ordered that Brotherhood funds be seized.
Two days later, police stormed the headquarters of a Brotherhood newspaper and shut it down.
Egyptian authorities have unleashed a massive crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood leaders, rounding up hundreds of the group's senior and mid-ranking members, topped by its spiritual leader Mohamed Badie and deputies Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi.
Brotherhood supporters had held sit-ins in Cairo demanding the reinstatement of elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi who was deposed by the army July 3 after millions protested his rule.
Many hundreds of people, including nearly 100 soldiers and police, are said to have been killed in violent clashes between protesters and the army since Morsi's ouster July 3.
Comments
| Quick linksNews
National
International
Regional
Politics
Education & Career
Business
Science & Technology
Health
Views & Analysis
The Funny Side
© 2012 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.
Voter has right to negative voting: SCFour soldiers, six policemen and two civilians were killed in Jammu and Kashmir Thursday in an audacious terror attack that also left three militants presumably from Pakistan dead. Furious over the nine hours of mayhem, the BJP asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call off his .... More
Also Read: Right to recall unworkable in India: Chief Election Commissioner
AR Rahman, Muhammad Ali Clay conferred Jewels of Muslim World AwardThe Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday honoured famous Indian music composer A R Rehman and boxing great Muhammad Ali, along with 08 other outstanding Muslims, by conferring on them the Jewels of the Muslim World Award.... More
Apart from the cases of corruption, in the last three years, the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Gujarat have entrusted four cases of fake encounters of Gujarat to the CBI. The cases are that of Sohrabuddin-Kauserbi, Tulsi Prajapati, Javed-Ishrat ... More
"If the temples release some of their gold, the country need not import this for another four-five months. It will be win-win situation for both the government and the temples. The government will save a lot of foreign exchange," he ...... More
