Jailed Brotherhood leader to undergo heart procedure

The jailed, ailing third-in-command of Egypt”s opposition Muslim Brotherhood will undergo a cardiac catheterisation procedure in a Cairo hospital on Monday, his daughter and the Brotherhood said.

Khairat el-Shatir, who was sentenced to seven years in jail in a controversial military trial last month, was taken from prison to a government hospital in Cairo for the procedure to check for blockages.

“They made preparations but the procedure hasn”t started yet,” his daughter Zahraa el-Shatir told Reuters. “They will see if he needs new treatment.”

She said that if a blockage was found, Shatir could undergo treatment for that on Monday as well.

Shatir, 59, was the most senior of 25 Muslim Brotherhood members sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to 10 years by a military court in April — the first such trial of Brotherhood members since 2001.

But the military court has yet to clarify what charges the Brotherhood men were ultimately convicted of. They had at first faced charges of terrorism and money laundering, which were later reported dropped, leaving only lesser charges remaining.

Amnesty International had said in August that Shatir suffered from “serious health conditions” and needed urgent medical care, At the time, they said he was suffering from a leg infection complicated by diabetes.

The Brotherhood, which seeks an Islamic state through democratic and non-violent means, has borne the brunt of a government crackdown that began more than a year ago and has also netted bloggers and activists opposed to the government.

It holds roughly a fifth of the seats in Egypt”s lower house of parliament through members who ran as independents in a 2005 election, but has been largely blocked from taking part in any subsequent polls.