CAIRO: The Higher State Security Prosecution office released Muslim Brotherhood leader Fathi Lasheen, former consultant at the Ministry of Justice, on health grounds.
Lasheen was one of 13 Brotherhood leaders arrested earlier this week in a crackdown on the group.
Other prominent detainees still in custody include Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, secretary general of the Arab Doctors’ Union; Gamal Abdel Salam, chairman of the emergency committee in the Arab Doctors’ Union and former Brotherhood candidate in the 2005 parliamentary elections; and Abdel Rahman Al-Gamal, an employee at the Ministry of Education in Gharbeya.
On Tuesday the Arab Doctors’ Union issued a press statement urging security officials to release Aboul Fotouh and Abel Salam immediately.
The statement condemned the arrests, especially Aboul Fotouh’s, describing him as “a great example for a decent and honorable Egyptian doctor, lauding his efforts and role in the Arab Doctors’ Union.
Hamdy El-Sayyed, chairman of the Doctors’ Syndicate, also issued a statement condemning the arrests, deeming it an “an insult to the role of Egypt in the Arab region.
