More than 450 jailed members of the Muslim Brotherhood have gone on hunger strike in Egypt in protest at their "inhumane treatment", the group says.

The prisoners, who include senior aides to deposed President Mohammed Morsi, say they have been denied family visits and access to medical care.

More than 2,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested since the overthrow of Mr Morsi.

The Islamist president was ousted by the military in July.

The Muslim Brotherhood said on its Twitter account that its members had been "banned from family visits, legal counselling, medical care and [live in] overcrowded and unhygienic cells".

The Brotherhood said that senior figures were taking part in the hunger strike, including one-time presidential hopeful Khairat al-Shater, secretary-general of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party Mohammed al-Beltagi, and Mr Morsi's former foreign affairs adviser Essam al-Haddad.

The group did not say if Mr Morsi himself was taking part in the strike.

Mr Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, was deposed by the military in July after huge street protests against him.

He is now facing three separate criminal trials relating to his time in office.

The first trial opened on 4 November but has been adjourned until 8 January while lawyers examine documents.

BBC