Britons jailed in Egypt

The mother of one of three Britons jailed for five years in Egypt reacted with fury today at the court's sentence.

Zara Pankhurst's son, Reza, was among 26 people jailed today for allegedly trying to revive an Islamic group banned by Egypt's government.

Reza, 28, and Ian Nisbet, 29, both from London, reportedly ran an Internet company in the country.

They were jailed along with the third Briton, Maajid Nawaz, 26, from Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, who was studying Arabic.

Zara Pankhurst, speaking from the courthouse in Cairo, said: "It was a Mickey Mouse trial in a Kangaroo court with Goofy as judge.

"The judge is obviously given his orders by state security.

"Reza said, 'We are strong. We have our faith and we are going to hang on to that."

"Everybody realised it was a kangaroo court. We said from the start, this is not a court it is the government's attempts to terrorise the people.

"The (British) embassy staff have said they will try to find out what the next step is, what they can do."

The three men have already served two years in jail after their trial was constantly delayed due to legal wrangling. The three Britons will now spend three years in jail, the remainder of the five year sentence.

They had been accused of attempting to revive Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Liberation Party.