Egypt's Brotherhood leader hospitalised after circulatory collapse

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide has been hospitalised after suffering a sudden circulatory collapse while in prison.

Mohammad Badie, 72, was transferred to a Cairo hospital after his health suddenly deteriorated early on Saturday.

"Badie is suffering a circulatory collapse," an unnamed source told the Anadolu Agency.

The source added that the Brotherhood leader was taken from Tora prison to al-Manial hospital in Cairo at dawn after his health collapsed.

Late Friday, several Egyptian media outlets reported that Badie had died.

In an online statement, Badie's family said that they did not have any information about his health.

"What has been published is worrying, we are trying to confirm this with our lawyers. The coup officials have the full responsibility of taking care of the Supreme Guide's health," the family said.

The Brotherhood's Egyptian Revolutionary Council also expressed concern about Badie's conditions in prison.

	Hundreds of Brotherhood members have been sentenced to death [Getty]

"Badie and other dissidents are held in conditions that all international human rights organisations view as beyond appalling and are subjected to torture, malnutrition, overcrowding and the withholding of medical treatment," it said in a statement.

An Egyptian court earlier this year sentenced Badie and 35 other people to life in prison over violent clashes after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi,

The supreme guide had already been sentenced to death and prison terms in other trials.

The authorities have arrested thousands of Brotherhood leaders and members, including Morsi, since he was ousted by the army in 2013.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death, although many have appealed and won retrials.

The country was rocked by violence for weeks after Morsi's supporters set up protest camps and demonstrated against his overthrow.

The police killed hundreds of his supporters in clashes, including more than 600 on August 14, 2013 as they dispersed a Cairo protest camp.