Zoheiry had suffered bruised ribs 10 days ago and had not been given proper medical treatment

CAIRO, June 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A member of the Muslim Brotherhood died Wednesday, June 9, while in Egyptian police custody, a spokesman for the group said.

"Engineer Akram Zoheiry ... died Wednesday morning," Abdel Moneim Mahmud, an official in the Muslim Brotherhood media department, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He said Zoheiry's death had been announced in parliament by an interior ministry official responding to a request from the brotherhood for information on the status of Islamic group detainees.

The circumstances of the man's death were not given, and Mahmud said Zoheiry's family had not been officially informed.

'Torture'

The official was quoted as saying Zoheiry had suffered bruised ribs when he was being transported from prison to the office of the security court prosecutor 10 days ago and had not been given proper medical treatment, despite the protests of fellow prisoners.

Mahmud said the brotherhood had called for an autopsy to be performed and would also seek release of the body for burial.

Zoheiry, 38, was the owner of a construction company. He was married, with three children.

He was one of 54 Islamic activists arrested May 16 and accused of organizing protests against Israel's assassinations of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, and his successor, Abdelaziz Rantissi.

Mahmud added that eight of those detainees had been taken to the prosecutor's office overnight for questioning, and that "they had been subjected to torture."

Last week, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights issued a report charging that at least 15 Egyptians had died while in police custody between April 2003 and April 2004.

The organization said it had "strong suspicions that the 15 deaths resulted from torture and abuse at Egyptian police stations."

The figure represented only a fraction of the problem, the statement said, referring to reports of hundreds of other cases of torture across the country.

Though the Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned, some of its activities are tolerated by the government.

The Brotherhood calls for the establishment of an Islamic state in Egypt , but rejects the use of violence.

Some of its activities are tolerated and 17 "independent" candidates backed by the Muslim Brotherhood won seats in Egypt 's 454-member parliament in 2000. However, their support on the streets is generally thought to be higher.