- Human RightsPrisoners of Conscience
- December 22, 2007
- 2 minutes read
Egypt drops terror charges against Muslim Brothers

Egypt”s military tribunal dropped terror and money laundering charges on Sunday against 40 senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were arrested a year ago, judicial officials and the group”s Web site said. “The military court dropped charges of money laundering and terrorism,” said a judicial official speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
“But the court kept the charges of belonging to a banned group and managing companies on behalf of the organization for businessmen Khayrat al-Shater and Hassan Malek,” the official added.
Shater, 57, the number three man of Egypt”s largest and oldest Islamic group, was arrested along with 39 other prominent members last December.
Separately, angry Muslims attacked and destroyed shops owned by Coptic Christians on Sunday in a town in the south of the country that been witnessing sectarian tensions, a police official said.
Police detained 15 people after the attacks in Isna, located about 560 kilometers south of Cairo, he said.
The riots followed reports that two Coptic Christians pulled down the veil of a Muslim woman in a car park on Saturday evening.