CAIRO: The Cairo Administrative Court adjourned to Jan. 12 the appeal hearing of 13 Muslim Brotherhood members who were tried in a military court in 2007. The session took place under strict security measures and media was not allowed inside the court room. The 13 members are part of a group of 25 leading Brotherhood members who were sentenced by a military court in July 2007 to three to 10 years in prison on charges of financing an illegal group and money laundering. Eighteen are currently in prison, while seven were convicted in absentia and received 10-year jail sentences. Last July, Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moniem Abdel-Maqsoud filed the appeal on behalf of 13 of the imprisoned members who have completed three-quarters of their sentences. The lawyer had filed an appeal to all 18 members in prison in August 2008. The law does not permit appeals to those convicted in absentia, Abdel-Maqsoud previously told Daily News Egypt. Chief financier of the Brotherhood Khairat El-Shater is among the 13 appealing members. The military tribunal had raised several due-process concerns and attracted international condemnation because the men were acquitted of the same charges before a civilian court, only to be rearrested inside the court room and immediately re-charged with the same crimes before a military court.
