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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Militants handed over
By Jailan HalawiIn another blow to Islamist militants, 13 members of the clandestine Vanguards of Conquest, an offshoot of the Jihad group, were handed over to Egypt during the past few weeks by South Africa, Yemen, Kuwait and Syria. According to the State Security Prosecutor's office, the 13, along with 46 others who were arrested in 1996, are accused of involvement in the bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan in November 1995 in which 17 people were killed.
They are also accused of belonging to an illegal organisation, plotting terrorist attacks and assassinations and disturbing public order.
In the course of an earlier interrogation by state security prosecutors, the suspects are said to have confessed that they had received para-military training in Afghanistan before travelling to Arab countries and attempting to infiltrate Egypt, using false passports, to stage attacks.
The suspects, it is also claimed, said that their Afghanistan training was supervised by Ahmed Hussein Egeiza, who was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment last week. Egeiza is believed to be living in Europe after spending five years in Yemen. Egypt had repeatedly asked the Yemeni government to hand him over, but Yemen denied his presence on its soil.
A security official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the state security prosecutor had opened an investigation into this case in August 1996.
A military prosecutor is also questioning 21 members of the underground Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya on charges of planning to raid Montazah Palace in Alexandria and assassinate public figures in December 1996. The defendants, led by Ahmed El-Sheikh, reportedly confessed that they had received their orders from jailed Al-Gama'a leaders.
According to the state security source, the military prosecutor will begin interrogating the Vanguards of Conquest suspects once he finishes questioning the Montazah Palace defendants and announces the indictment bill.
On Tuesday, Reuters quoted Yasser El-Serri, who runs the London-based Islamic Observation Centre, as saying that Libya had handed over to Egypt five suspected Islamist militants. El-Serri was quoted as having said the five were deported to Egypt in early March, although they had residence permits in Libya.
In another development, Austrian authorities detained and interrogated one of Egypt's most wanted men, Adel Abdel-Qoddous, and then allowed British agents to question him about his ties to Islamist extremists in England.
An Austrian police unit stormed Abdel-Qoddous' house on 21 April and searched it for about an hour, then took him to a police station for interrogation. After questioning him for several hours, Austrian authorities released Abdel-Qoddous without pressing charges. He was questioned by British agents for about 45 minutes.
Abdel-Qoddous is said to be a leading member of the underground Jihad group which was officially blamed for the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat.
Abdel-Qoddous has been sentenced to death twice in absentia by military courts. The first sentence came in 1994 for his involvement in a failed attempt on the life of then Prime Minister Atef Sidki. The second was handed down last week for belonging to an illegal group, Jihad.
Leaving Egypt in the late 1980s, Abdel-Qoddous lived in Afghanistan and Yemen. Since 1995, he has been residing in Austria with his wife and two daughters, where he applied for political asylum. His name was on a list released by the Egyptian government in 1997 of 14 men, living abroad, described as the most wanted militants.
The Interior Ministry announced on Monday that a large number of "repentant" Gama'a members have been released. The ministry said the release was in line with its policy of freeing militants who renounce violence and the extremist ideology.
The ministry gave no figures, but Montasser El-Zayyat, the Gama'a lawyer, put the number of those released at more than 1,000.
