An Egyptian emergency court Monday postponed until next month the trial of five Islamists accused of money laundering and funding an illegal group.
"Only one of the five people facing the charges, Osama Mohamed Suleiman, is in police custody. The rest, including one Saudi national, are outside of the country and are tried in absentia," a legal source said.
He added that the five Islamists face charges of money laundering and providing funds to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is legally banned in Egypt. The trial will resume on July 14.
The five defendants were among 32 leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood arrested last June – the rest of whom were later released, including Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, the secretary general of the Arab Doctors' Union.
Abul Fotouh reportedly led a cell to stage street demonstrations in Egypt and other Arab countries, and to recruit jihadist cells to go to Gaza to receive paramilitary training by its Islamist rulers Hamas. The case was known in Egyptian media as the Brotherhood's "international organisation".
The charges were then dropped for Abul Fotouh and some other 15 Islamists.
The Brotherhood, which holds a fifth of the seats in Parliament, is banned as an organisation, but its members are allowed to compete in elections as independents.
The decisions of the State Security Emergency Court, which will hear the case, cannot be appealed.
