Muslim Brotherhood chief dies

CAIRO, 15 November 2002 — The head of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition force in Egyptian politics, Mustafa Mashhur, died here yesterday at the age of 83, hospital sources said. Mashhur, who was in a coma since late October following a stroke, headed the Brotherhood since 1996. Born in the Zagazig region of northern Egypt, he was jailed in 1954 and served a 10-year prison term for involvement in an assassination bid against former President Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was re-arrested in 1965 in a sweep of arrests targeting the Brotherhood. Mashhur left Egypt in 1985 and returned home in the early 1990s. (AFP)