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| Africa North |
| Egypt to try five Islamists for Money laundering |
| 2010-05-10 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Four Egyptians and a Saudi national are to stand trial in Egypt on June 14 on charges of money laundering and funding the banned Muslim Brotherhood, a judicial source told AFP on Sunday. "Their trial will start on June 14 at the emergency High State Security Court. They are accused of funding a banned organization through donations collected abroad," the source said. The five will be tried after being charged with channeling money through a British-based Islamic charity to fund the movement's activities in Egypt, the source said. Three of the accused--Saudi national Awad al-Qarni and Egyptians Ibrahim Munir Ahmed Mustafa and Wagdi Abdel Hamid Ghoneim--are to be tried in absentia as they live abroad. The two currently in Egypt are Ashraf Mohammed Abdel Halim, a physician and deputy secretary general of the doctors' syndicate, and Osama Mohammed Soliman who heads a large financial company in Egypt. The two have been accused of laundering $3.56 million (2.8 million euros) through several bank accounts before supplying the Muslim Brotherhood with the money to fund their activities in Egypt, the source said. Four of the accused--Qarni, Mustafa, Ghoneim and Abdel Halim--are also accused of supplying the Brotherhood with four million pounds sterling ($5.9 million). International rights groups have repeatedly criticized the use of emergency courts--set up under the emergency law which has been in place since 1981--which deny the right of appeal. The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned in Egypt but its members control a fifth of seats in parliament after fielding candidates as "independents." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 An interesting link, American Delight. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-05-10 17:23 |
| #1 More on the Egyptian money laundering ring and the British connection here. |
| Posted by: American Delight 2010-05-10 12:56 |