CAIRO
The Muslim Brotherhood's leadership abroad has chosen an acting top leader to fill the post of Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, who is currently jailed in Egypt, a leading group member has said.
Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, who manages the Brotherhood's affairs oversees, has said that his embattled group recently held internal elections to choose a new Guidance Bureau, the group's decision-making body.
"Sixty-five percent of the Brotherhood's leadership has been replaced as per the recently-held internal elections across Egypt," Abdel-Rahman said in an interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera news network, aired Wednesday evening.
In his first televised appearance since he was chosen to manage the Brotherhood's affairs oversees, Abdel-Rahman said none of the newly-elected Brotherhood leaders are imprisoned in Egypt.
The Brotherhood leader also asserted that youth were present among all levels of management within the Islamist movement.
The Egyptian government has been waging a relentless crackdown on the decades-old Muslim Brotherhood since the military ouster of elected President and Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi in mid-2013 following mass protests against his one year in office.
For his part, Abdel-Rahman said that the Brotherhood continues to operate "within an organized framework" inside Egypt despite the government's unprecedented campaign.
"The Brotherhood as an organization is deeply rooted in Egyptian society," Abdel-Rahman said. "No regime could prevent the Brotherhood's activity in Egypt, which has continued throughout more than 80 years."
The fierce crackdown on supporters of Morsi and his group has left hundreds dead and thousands thrown behind bars, including Morsi and Badie.
In late 2013, Egyptian authorities designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist" group.
Morsi and most of Brotherhood's top leaders are facing multiple trials in Egypt. This month, Badie has been sentenced to death and Morsi to 20 years in prison on violence-related charges in separate trials.
Many other Brotherhood members and leaders have fled Egypt in the wake of Morsi's overthrow amid the unprecedented crackdown on the group, which was once Egypt's most organized political force.
Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the then-defense minister who led Morsi's ouster, became the country's new president after winning a presidential election in Egypt in mid-2014.
