Cairo: Abdul Azeem Al Sharqawi, an imprisoned senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, died Saturday evening at a state hospital, the banned group and security sources said.
Al Sharqawi, who was a member of the Islamist group’s Guidance Bureau, was 67, they added.
He died at a hospital in Beni Sueif in Upper Egypt to which he was transported from prison a week ago after suffering a stroke.
The Brotherhood claimed in a statement that Al Sharqawi’s health deteriorated due to “medical negligence” inside the prison, an allegation denied by authorities.
He will be buried in his hometown of Beni Sueif, his family said.
Al Sharqawi, an ex-lawmaker, was a close associate of the Brotherhood’s supreme guide Mohammad Badei. The Guidance Bureau is the Islamist group’s highest policy-making body.
In June 2015, Al Sharqawi was detained for inciting violence against security forces almost two years after the army deposed then president Mohammad Mursi following mass street protests against his rule.
Since Mursi’s ouster, hundreds of Brotherhood leaders and followers have been rounded up in a tough security crackdown on charges of inciting or involvement in violence.
They include Badei, a veterinary professor, who was tried in connection with several cases. He has received several verdicts, including death sentences in two different cases.
