Envoys visit jailed Egypt leader

International envoys visited a high-ranking member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in jail yesterday, the state news agency reported, to press a bid to defuse the crisis ignited by President Mohamed Morsi's downfall.
The envoys met deputy Brotherhood leader Khairat El-Shater just after midnight, having received permission from the prosecutor general to visit him at Tora prison, south of Cairo, the state news agency MENA reported.
The report citing "an informed source" contradicted an earlier government denial of a visit by officials from the United States, European Union, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
MENA gave no further details. Earlier, the Doha-based Al Jazeera news channel reported the meeting had taken place. The reports could not be independently confirmed.
Shater is deputy leader of the group that propelled Morsi to office last year in Egypt's first democratic presidential election. Seen as the Brotherhood's political strategist, he was arrested after Morsi's downfall on charges of inciting violence.
The international mediation effort is helping to contain the bloody conflict between Morsi's Islamist backers and the interim government installed by the military that overthrew him on July 3, following mass protests against his rule.