Mohammed Mahdi Akef (Arabic: محمد مهدي عاكف; July 12, 1928 – September 22, 2017) was the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamic political movement, from 2004 until 2010.

[4] He was arrested on 1 August 1954 and stood trial on charges including smuggling Major General Abdul Munem Abderraoof (one of the army chiefs who spearheaded the ouster and expulsion of King Farouq) and was sentenced to death in absentia before the ruling was commuted to life imprisonment.

He took part in organizing some of the biggest camps for the Muslim youth on the world (including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia, Mali, Kenya, Cyprus, Germany, Britain and the United States).

[7] However the following day reports on the Muslim Brotherhood website stated that Akef had not resigned and would continue to serve as the group's general guide until elections in January 2010.

[8] Following Sisi's military takeover of Egypt, the Brotherhood was deemed a terrorist group by the new regime and Akef was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.

[6] Akef has been described as "unapologetic about charges by reformist members regarding the reluctance of the Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] to engage more proactively in opposition to the Mubarak regime in the first decade of the twenty-first century" (27).

"[9] He is said to have "belittled questions related to the dominance of the old guard"[9] even as younger reformist members sought to establish a stronger place in the Brotherhood's leadership.