Three Britons charged over Egypt coup plot

Three British men have been charged in connection with an attempt to overthrow the Egyptian government and establish a new Islamic order, the Foreign Office confirmed yesterday.

The accused, all from London, have been held in custody by the Egyptian authorities since their arrest in April.

Reza Pankhurst, 27, Ian Nisbet, 27, and Maajid Nawaz, 24, members of an Islamic organisation called The Liberation Party, face further charges that include spreading propaganda for a group "established in breach of the laws and constitution", reports yesterday said.

The Liberation Party, also known as Hizb ut-Tahrir, is outlawed in most Middle Eastern countries. Founded by Palestinians in 1952, it has been accused by foreign governments of several terrorist operations.

The British men have been charged with 23 Egyptians facing similar allegations.

Imran Waheed, a Birmingham doctor who represents the party in Britain, said: "We're concerned that they [the British men] may be continually tortured and that the torture will be used as a form of interrogation. The party does not believe in violence but in intellectual and political change in the Muslim world."

The wives of the three men held a news conference last month in which they said that their husbands had been blindfolded, handcuffed, subjected to electric shocks and left on bare concrete floors in solitary confinement for days on end since their arrest on 1 April.

Mr Nisbet and Mr Pankhurst worked in Egypt with an internet company, they said. Mr Nawaz was studying at Alexandria University on a foreign exchange programme organised by London's School of Oriental and African Studies, and had been due to return to London in July, they said.

If convicted, they are thought likely to be given up to 25 years in prison with hard labour. The men were held for renewable two-week periods without charge under emergency laws in force since President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic militants in 1981.

The Foreign Office said that a fourth Briton, also arrested in April, would be released without charge in a few days. "We can confirm that three men arrested earlier in the year have been charged," the spokesman said. "The families have asked us not to release any further details and we have to respect their wishes." The Foreign Office will continue to offer consular assistance to the men.

The Egyptian government has arrested and referred hundreds of alleged Muslim militants to military courts since September.Human rights groups say it has exploited the US-led war on terror to crack down on its opponents.