 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
 |
 |
|
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
|
|
Egypt Region International Book Fair Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Military trial
By Khaled Dawoud
for militant suspectsOnly 43 suspected militants out of 107 defendants listed on the indictment bill were present at the opening of the military trial on Monday of leading figures in Egypt's second largest, but more violent, militant organisation -- Islamic Jihad. The rest of the accused are outside Egypt and are believed to be living mainly in Afghanistan and a number of European countries.
According to security sources and experts on militant groups, this particular trial is highly significant for several reasons. In addition to the Jihad figures, the indictment bill also lists the names of some leaders of Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, Egypt's largest militant group that has been responsible for anti-government violence since 1992.
Topping the list is Ayman El-Zawahri, believed to lead the Jihad group and known for his very close relations with Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
The United States has accused Bin Laden of masterminding the bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August. Bin Laden and El-Zawahri appeared together in several news conferences and the two are founding members of the so-called International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. The front, whose birth was announced a year ago, includes four other militant organisations and its declared aim is to target US interests.
Also on the indictment bill is Mohamed Shawki Al-Islambouli, the brother of Khaled Al-Islambouli, one of the convicted assassins of the late President Anwar El-Sadat. Mohamed is known as a leading member of the Gama'a. Also on trial in absentia are Adel Abdel-Meguid, a leading Jihad figure, and Yasser Sirry, a former member of the Gama'a. Both live in Britain and had been sentenced to death in absentia four years ago.
The current trial of suspected militants is the second largest since the trial in 1981 of over 300 militants charged with taking part in the plot to assassinate Sadat and overthrow the government.
The indictment bill also included the names of 14 suspected militants who had been handed to Egypt recently by Albania, Bulgaria and Saudi Arabia. The most important among them is Ahmed Sayed El-Naggar, known as a leading Jihad figure. He was sentenced to death in absentia in October 1997 after he was convicted of plotting to attack tourists at Cairo's famous Khan Al-Khalili bazaar. El-Naggar attended Monday's trial wearing the red prison uniform worn by those on death row.
Speaking to reporters from behind bars, El-Naggar said he was arrested by Albanian intelligence officers on 1 July 1998 and was taken blindfolded to be interrogated by a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. He was later handed over to Egypt, where he was questioned and allegedly tortured to force him to make confessions. El-Naggar said he was turned over to Egypt along with five other suspected militants.
After the extradition of El-Naggar and his colleagues, the Jihad organisation issued a statement threatening to target US interests in retaliation. Only a few days later, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, killing more than 250 people.
El-Naggar said that he supported the bombings, alleging that the US Embassy in Kenya "was the largest spying centre against Islamists in Africa." He also declared his support for Bin Laden and El-Zawahri and announced that his group did not back a so-called cease-fire initiative announced last year by jailed leaders of the Gama'a.
"This initiative was made by the Gama'a and we have nothing to do with it," he said. "Our struggle is not against the Egyptian regime; its scope is much larger than that. Our struggle is against America and Israel who dominate all the other regimes in this region."
El-Naggar said the US is working hard on arresting leading militants active in the Balkan area, particularly Kosovo, "because they do not want to repeat the Afghanistan experience. They want the Muslims in Kosovo to be slaughtered by the Serbs."
Among the other leading Jihad figures present at Monday's trial was Ahmed Ismail Osman, also sentenced to death in absentia for plotting a failed assassination attempt in 1993 against then Prime Minister Atef Sidki. He was handed to Egypt by Albania. Also present in the courtroom was Said Sayed Salama, who was described by security sources as a close aide of Bin Laden's and who was extradited to Egypt by Saudi Arabia last year.
Monday's trial was held at the Haikstep desert military camp, 35 kilometres north of Cairo, amid tight security measures. Only a few family members and relatives, who had gathered in front of the camp since the early morning, were allowed to attend the opening session. However, the chief military judge ordered guards to allow all family members in after hearings were adjourned.
Islamist lawyers complained to the judges that they were not allowed to establish contact with their clients. They also alleged that apart from the 14 defendants extradited to Egypt, most of the others had been in prison already, either as detainees under the emergency law or serving sentences passed against them in earlier trials. Mahmoud Abdel-Shafie, an Islamist lawyer, told Al-Ahram Weekly that most of the defendants on trial were officially charged after El-Naggar made his confessions. "El-Naggar gave interrogators the names of the people he used to contact after he left Egypt in 1993. They brought all those people in and filed new charges against them," Abdel-Shafie said.
One of the defendants on trial, Hisham Abaza, said he had been in prison for nearly five years. However, he found his name on the indictment bill because he once contacted El-Naggar in the early 1990s. "There are many brothers inside prison who are ready to support the call for ending violence. But I am afraid that trials like this one and the tough sentences expected to be passed will trigger a new wave of violence," he told the Weekly.
When hearings resume today, the defendants will be asked by the presiding judge how they plead to the charges filed against them.
