The Giza Criminal Court heard witnesses today in the-so-called 'Muslim Brotherhood International Organization case,' in which charges were pressed against five Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members for money laundering and financing MB activities.  

The court cross-examined the only defendant present in the courtroom, Osmama Soliman, a medical doctor and owner of a money exchange company. The other four defendants, Ashraf Mohamed, Wagdy Ghoneim, Awad El-Qerany and Ibrahim Mounir, are being tried in absentia.

The first witness heard today was Hisham Zein of State Security. Zein alleged that prior to Israel's war on Gaza in 2009 several MB activists organized more than one conference in Britain, where they claimed to be raising funds for Gaza. However, Zein testified, some of the money was sent to Egypt by the accused Ibrahim Mounir.

Mounir, according to the witness, invested the money in a partnership project with a Syrian businessman and profits were sent to a second defendant, Osama Soliman, who in turn invested the money in MB activities in Egypt.

The witness also stated that the money laundering unit at the central bank notified that Osama Soliman had received a transfer amount of EU2.7 million, which investigations later showed were sent from abroad and were going to be used for MB activities.

When the witness was asked whether he had recorded proof of these claims, he replied that he did not.

Soliman attended court today on a wheelchair as he had recently suffered a heart attack. The attack had kept him at hospital for the past three months, postponing the trial several times.