World Bulletin / News Desk

An Egyptian court on Saturday accepted an appeal against the release of a Turkish national held on alleged espionage charges.

The Suez Court of Appeals accepted the appeal by the prosecution against an earlier decision to release Resat Ozturk on $2,900 bail, a judicial source told Anadolu Agency.

Ozturk was arrested by Egyptian police in the canal city of Suez on August 19 on allegations of "cooperating with and spying for the Muslim Brotherhood."

Ozturk, who works in the textile industry, has denied the charges, saying he only became friends with some Muslim Brotherhood members through social media.

Alper Bosuter, an adviser at the Turkish embassy in Cairo, had earlier dismissed the spying charges against the Turkish national.

"Ozturk has been in Egypt for two years to study Arabic," Bosuter told AA after the arrest.

According to the diplomat, Ozturk had attended peaceful protests in Egypt "out of curiosity," later posting photos of the demonstrations on social-networking websites.

"But the Egyptian authorities arrested him because of certain comments on the photos and because of his presence at a public square in Suez following the [August 14] dispersal of protest camps in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi," said Bosuter.