The new Muslim Brotherhood guide-general

By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff

CAIRO, January 14 (IslamOnline.net) – Mohammad Mahdi Akef has been elected Wednesday, January 14, as the new guide-general for the Muslim Brotherhood following a secret vote, IslamOnline.net can confirm.

Nine of the group's guidance bureau 15 members voted in favor of Akef.

Abudl Monem Abol Fotouh, a leading Muslim Brotherhood member, told IOL on Monday, January 12, the group would hold a secret vote for choosing the new guide-general in an unprecedented move against earlier decisions to fill the post through referendums.

The sixth guide-general of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mamoun el-Hodaiby, passed away early Friday, January 9, at the age of 83.

The banned but officially tolerated group had said that Mohamed Helal, 83, was to take over as acting guide-general, in accordance with the bylaws of the group which allows the oldest member to take over the helm until a new leader is elected for the post within two months.

The new guide-general is a specialist in physical education.

He jointed the Muslim Brotherhood in 1948 before the assassination of the group's first guide-general.

Akef was sentenced to death, then commuted to hard labor, on charges of involvement in a failed assassination attempt on the life of late Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Naser in Alexandria, in 1954.

In 1974, he was released from jail. He left for Germany in 1980, where he ran the group's Islamic center.

In 1986, Akef returned home to head the youths department in the group.

One year later, he was elected to the Egyptian parliament and served till 1990.

Akef ran for parliamentary elections in 1995 and 2000 as independent but failed to make it again.

He is currently the Muslim Brotherhood liaison official with the Muslim world.