Cairo  - Youssef Chahine, one of Egypt's most distinguished directors, was evacuated by plane Monday to Paris for specialized treatment after he suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Chahine, 82, was reportedly in a coma and in critical condition after suffering the brain haemorrhage on Saturday, his friend and filmmaker, Khalid Youssef, told reporters.

The director studied acting in California in the 1940s and returned home to start a distinctive career in film-making that drew both domestic and international acclaim.

One of his earliest film, Ibn al-Nil, (Son of the Nile) produced in the 1950s, secured him his first invitation to the Cannes film festival, which bestowed on him its 50th anniversary lifetime achievement award in 1997.

With his strong antipathy for religious intolerance and anti- government views, the director drew criticism from the country's ruling establishment and incurred the wrath of its Islamists.

Chahine, though cherishing the memories of the happy years he spent in Los Angeles as a student, has been critical of US policies in the Middle East, particularly the Gulf war against Iraq in 1991 and the 2003 invasion of the Arab country. (dpa)