CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood denied press reports claiming five high profile group members were still detained for money laundering and involvement in what was termed the "Global Muslim Brotherhood Movement. The news is totally baseless; all detainees were released earlier, lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told Daily News Egypt. Independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm ran a news report claiming that the businessmen s case was still open and that investigations are still underway. The newspaper also claimed that the case will be transferred to supreme state security court soon. Twenty-two Muslim Brotherhood members were detained last June on charges of terrorism, joining an illegal group and money laundering. Detainees included member of the Brotherhood's Guidance Office and Secretary General of the Arab Doctors' Union Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh; 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. Aboul Fotouh and 18 other detainees were released last month after they were cleared of all charges. Al-Masry Al-Youm s article cited Ahmed Abdel-Malek, owner of an imports and exports office, as one of the five detainees convicted with these charges, which the lawyer denies. This man isn t involved at all; apparently, the reporter didn t want the case to be closed, Abdel Maqsoud said.
