A leading Muslim Brotherhood figure revealed on Tuesday that at least three members of ousted president Mohamed Morsi's staff have been released.

The anonymous member told Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website in an exclusive statement that those released are Ayman Hodhod, responsible for security under Morsi, Pakinam El-Sharkawy, Morsi's political affairs aide, and Abdel Magid Mashally.

Ayman Hodhod and Abdel Magid Mashally are considered close aides to Khairat El-Shater, the deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the Brotherhood source.

The anonymous source refused to comment on why these three had been released, or why news of their release was not made public, saying only that the Morsi aides are not at home but their families know of their locations.

18 aides from the former president’s team were detained in undisclosed locations after Morsi’s ouster on 3 July.

Foreign media spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood Gehad El-Haddad has denied the release of the three officials on Twitter, also stating that Pakinam was not among the first ten detained with the president.