Omar Suleiman, former vice president of Egypt, dead

Omar Suleiman, the former vice president of Egypt, has died at the age of 77 in the United States. He was suffering from health problems and died of a heart attack in hospital.

"Former vice president General Omar Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday in a hospital in the United States," the country's official news agency, Middle East News Agency (MENA), said, as reported by Yahoo News.

He had lung problems and was being treated for heart and lung problems.

"His health deteriorated suddenly around three weeks ago and he was taken to hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, where he died," the agency reported.

Omer Suleiman was the vice president in Hosni Mubarak's regime. After the end of the regime, he moved to the United States and stayed there till death along with his family. He was declared ineligible for the presidential run because of failure to comply with the requirements of the election commission.

Suleiman was a close partner of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and supported him during his tenure. He was against Islamists and became a link between Egypt and the United States. He tried to fight against the Muslim Brotherhood in the election, but was not allowed to run by the law. He therefore remained isolated from the free presidential election and had to move out of the country.

"If the Brotherhood's candidate wins the presidential election, Egypt will be turned into a religious state. All state institutions will be controlled by the Brotherhood," he said when decided to run in the presidential election.

His dead body would be sent to Egypt and buried there. The president of Egypt has expressed his condolences at the death of the former vice president. He will be buried in a military funeral in Egypt. He was a witness to some important events in the political history of the country and therefore his death is being considered a loss of important inside information.

Suleiman had also served as the intelligence chief, but was not active as a leader in the political arena of Egypt. He played his role mostly from the back end and therefore was rarely seen talking to the media. He was also thought to succeed Hosni Mubarak, as he was very experienced in political affairs in Mubarak’s regime.