Brotherhood figures detained over violence charges have been transferred to maximum security Akrab Prison in Cairo, says security source
Detained senior Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist figures have been transferred to the maximum security Akrab Prison, south of Cairo, a security source told state news agency MENA.
Members of the Islamist group, which propelled former president Mohamed Morsi to power, had been in custody in Tora Prison, a few kilometers away. They were transferred to Akrab Prison on Friday as a precautionary measure amid maintenance work in the facility where they were kept, the source added.
Brotherhood's second-man Khairat El-Shater, head of Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party Saad El-Katatni, former supreme guide Mahdi Akef as well as controversial Salafist preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail are among those jailed.
They stand accused of a range of charges including "inciting violence, funding violent acts, and thuggery."
Akrab Prison is known for its secret detention measures, hosting defendants accused of political violence, namely Jihadists and hardline militant Islamists.
Ousted president Morsi himself has been held incommunicado in an undisclosed location since his ouster on 3 July amid nationwide protests demanding an end to his rule.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]