Three Britons accused of promoting an illegal Islamic group in Egypt are facing many more months in jail after their trial was delayed.

Ian Nisbet, Reza Pankhurst and Maajid Nawaz, are accused of promoting the goals of Hizb-ut-Tahrir or the Islamic Liberation Party - a group which is banned in many Middle Eastern countries.

They were arrested last April and claim they were tortured with electric shocks, deprived of sleep, and denied access to lawyers and consular officials while in prison waiting for their trial to begin in October.

Their lawyer has dismissed the evidence against them as "trivial" and says that it includes nothing that is not widely available in public libraries.

It will be nearly one whole year since my children and I last saw Reza before it resumes Hodan Pankhurst

The three, who are all in their 20s and originally from London, are being tried at Cairo's State Court.

They discovered on Friday that they will have to remain in jail until their trial restarts on 15 March.

Mr Pankhurst's wife, Hodan, said: "It is disgraceful that it will be nearly one whole year since my children and I last saw Reza before it resumes again.

"Who knows after that when this whole unjust trial will come to a real end.

"It is apparent that the judicial process itself is designed to be a punishment."

'Confessions'

The men claim they were forced to sign confessions in Arabic which they could not read.

To show it, Mr Pankhurst inserted the words "lies" and "hurt" into his signature on the confession.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has raised concerns over the torture claims with the Egyptian authorities, and demanded an urgent investigation.

British diplomats, who have been monitoring the trial, are set to raise their concerns over the a report on the allegations with the Cairo government.

Appearing alongside 23 Egyptian nationals, both 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.

Egyptian authorities blame Hizb ut-Tahrir for an attempted coup in 1974 and involvement in terrorist operations.