Egypt: 29 people detained on charges of "espionage"

Twenty-nine people accused of espionage on behalf of Turkey and members of a "terrorist" organization have been remanded in custody for 15 days, the Egyptian Attorney General announced today.

At the same time, as the prosecutor clarified in a press release he issued, many other suspects are escaping arrest in the country and abroad.

According to the press release of prosecutor Nabil Sadek, the first elements of the investigation showed that there was "an agreement between the security services and the intelligence services of Turkey together with members of the Muslim Brotherhood".

The aim of these contacts, the prosecution points out, was for members of the Islamist organization to gain access to the country's power by taking advantage of the environment of instability after the January 2011 uprising that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

The press release refers to a ploy to use Turkish servers to monitor the political situation in Egypt, as well as to set up information platforms that would broadcast "false information and rumors" from outside Egypt.

Egyptian security forces raided the suspects' homes and workplaces. Businesses were used to fund these activities, the prosecutor also stressed.