Anxious wait for Egypt verdict

Mr Nawaz, right, is on trial with Mr Nisbet (left) and Mr Pankhurst

The mother of an Essex man waiting for a verdict after a trial in Egypt says she is extremely nervous as the day draws near.

Maajid Nawaz, 25, from Westcliff, is accused, along with two other Britons - Ian Nisbet and Reza Pankhurst, who are both from London - and 23 Egyptians, of promoting a banned Islamic group.

Egypt's Emergency High State Security Court is expected to deliver its verdict on Christmas Day.

Mr Nawaz's mother, Abi, is preparing to fly out to Cairo to be in court when her son learns his fate.

On Friday she told BBC Essex that she was finding it difficult to cope.

What the boys must be feeling we cannot even to imagine Maajid Nawaz's mother

"It has been such an ordeal," she said.

"You cannot imagine the frustration that has been caused to the whole family - in fact everyone in the community.

"What the boys must be feeling we cannot even try to imagine.

"As the day draws nearer, I am getting very nervous and apprehensive."

Mr Nawaz, Mr Nisbet, 28, and Mr Pankhurst, 27, are accused of trying to revive Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Liberation Party.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir was banned in Egypt following an attempted coup in 1974.

Mr Nawaz and Mr Pankhurst are also accused of possessing and distributing printed literature which "promoted Hizb-ut-Tahrir's message".

Mr Pankhurst faces a third charge of possessing a computer used for "propagating" the group's ideology.

Father-of-one Mr Nawaz was a university student reading law and Arabic, when he and the other two British men, both IT consultants, were arrested in Egypt in April 2002.