Egypt's Interior Ministry said on Saturday that the top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, was in good health and denied reports that he had died from a heart attack in prison.

The ministry's Facebook page said Badie, the Brotherhood's general guide, was "enjoying good health".

State-run al-Ahram newspaper reported earlier that he suffered a heart attack while in jail but his condition had since stabilised. It was not clear whether the Interior Ministry was denying just the death or the death and the heart attack.

State-run news agency MENA earlier denied a report by the private al-Nahar website that the 70-year-old Badie had died.

Badie and many other leaders have been arrested in recent weeks in one of the toughest crackdowns the Islamist group has faced.

Badie was charged in July with incitement to murder in connection with protests before Mursi was ousted. He was due to be questioned on Aug. 28 but prison authorities delayed the session because of Badie's poor health.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad said he had no information on Badie's health when asked to respond to reports that he had died in prison.

A medical team was sent to Torah prison on the outskirts of Cairo to assess Badie's medical condition on Saturday, a security source told al-Ahram.

The source said his condition has stabilised and that the heart attack resulted from the "bad psychological state that he is going through".

The Brotherhood has been calling on Egyptians to stage mass protests to demand the reinstatement of Mursi, who was ousted following widespread protests against his rule a year after he was elected.-Reuters