The Egyptian Popular Current – the political movement of former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi – has denied accusations that one of its members, Amr Saleh, belongs to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Saleh, a senior commerce student at Damanhour University in the Nile Delta, was recently detained on charges of belonging to the Brotherhood, declared a terrorist organisation by Egyptian officials and subjected to a prolonged crackdown since the ouster of the group's president, Mohamed Morsi, last summer.

A statement from the Egyptian Popular Current said that prosecutors had ordered Saleh to be detained for 15 days, pending investigations.

The Nasserist movement called the accusations false, stressing that Saleh does not have any ties with the Brotherhood, and demanded his immediate release.