Religious and political leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Mamoun el-Hodeiby was a 'supreme guide' who headed Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded, in 1928, by Hasan al-Banna, an Egyptian reformer and founder of the society of Muslim Brothers. El-Hodeiby was arrested in 1965 but was freed with other political prisoners in 1971 when Anwar al-Saadat replaced President Jamal Abd al-Nasser following his death. El-Hodeiby was the main opposition spokesman from 1987 and became deputy leader of the parliamentary party from 1996. 'The United States has exploited the events to attack Islam as a creed and target Muslims and Islamic states,' el-Hodeiby said in his interview in 2002. 'As a result, the Islamic movements will grow and will never be vanquished.' El-Hodeiby was born in Sohag, in southern Egypt, studied law and joined judiciary in 1941, eventually becoming head of the appeals court in the early 1960s. He died of a heart attack and was buried in the village of his birth.