(Xinhua) -- Some 25 members of the Egyptian opposition Muslim Brotherhood were sentenced on Tuesday by a military court to up to 10 years in jail, the Qatar-based the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV reported. Out of the 40 members of the outlawed Islamic group charged with belonging to a banned group and involvement in money laundering, 25 were ordered to be jailed for financing a banned organization, while the other 15 were acquitted, the report added. Those who were sentenced to jail included the No. 3 of the Muslim Brotherhood Khayrat al-Shater, who got a seven-year jail sentence, while seven other members were given in absentia a 10-year imprison. Repeatedly delayed and issued by a military tribunal, the verdict came with no right for the convicted to appeal.
Officially banned in 1954 for its attempt to set up an Islamic government, the biggest Islamic opposition group in Egypt won 88 seats in 454-member lower house of parliament after its members ran as independents in the 2005 legislative elections. An Egyptian constitutional amendment adopted by a national referendum in late March 2007 prohibits the forming of any political party on a religious basis.