CAIRO: The Higher State Security Prosecution office sentenced Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, secretary general of the Arab Doctors' Union and the Muslim Brotherhood's deputy leader to 15 days in jail as investigations continue. Eight other Brotherhood members were also sentenced along with Aboul Fotouh including Gamal Abdel Salam, chairman of the emergency committee in the Arab Doctors' Union and former Brotherhood candidate in the 2005 parliamentary elections; Abdel Rahman Al-Gamal, an employee at the Ministry of Education in Gharbeya, Brotherhood members Reda Fahmy, Osama Soliman, Ali Al-Hadidi, Khaled Al-Sayed Beltagy, Adel Rahem Afifi and Mohamed Taha Wahdan, from Cairo, Giza, Port Said and Ismailia. According to a Brotherhood press statement, the prosecution added another person, not affiliated to the group, to the list of detainees, deeming him a Brotherhood member. The detainees were all sent to Torah prison except Abdel Salam who was sent to Al-Marg prison, the statement said. The prosecution accused all members of money laundering, joining an illegal group and promoting and financing an illegal group. Saad Al-Husseiny, a Brotherhood MP, denied an Al-Masry Al-Youm report that the group is threatening to stage protests should Aboul Fotouh be sent to a military court. "This is was a deliberate alteration of my original statement to the paper, he said, accusing the independent paper of tarnishing the group's image on purpose, portraying it as a militant group. Al-Husseiny added that the group does not resort to violence, explaining that it is a political organization that has a "message to convey through a certain ideology. A special report issued by the group indicated in June 26 members of the group were arrested, while 37 of those already detained received extended jail sentences, 34 of which had already received court orders for their release. The report also said that 18 members were released in June. Mohamed Habib, the Brotherhood's deputy leader, previously told Daily News Egypt that the total number of arrested members in the past couple of months is 146.
