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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Deportation jam
By Jailan HalawiGermany's failed attempt to deport to Iran two Egyptian Islamists held at Frankfurt Airport with their wives and children makes their fate as murky as ever.
The German Federal Constitutional Court had upheld a deportation order and turned down the request of the militants for asylum as groundless. The court ruled that both men be extradited to any country except Egypt.
Abdel-Akhar Hammad, 45, and Mohieddin Abdel-Moneim, 35, are considered top figures in Egypt's largest militant group, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya. Both had been jailed for their alleged roles in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat.
Hammad, along with his wife and five children, had flown to Frankfurt from the United Arab Emirates, where he had worked as a mosque preacher. Abdel-Moneim came to Frankfurt from Syria with his wife and son. Both made a stop-over in Tehran before going to Frankfurt, which is why Germany decided to send them back to Iran.
The two men and their families were put on a flight from Frankfurt to Tehran on 1 March, escorted by five German police officers. They were not allowed into Iran and returned on the same flight. They are now at Frankfurt Airport, where they have been detained since 27 January.
According to an Egyptian security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, Iran's refusal to take them "reflects a new approach to the issue of Egyptian Islamists on the run who are wanted by Egypt".
The source said that both men had used aliases for years during their stay in the UAE and Syria to avoid being recognised and arrested, and then went to Germany to request political asylum. Using forged passports, they stopped over in Tehran to try to throw authorities off their track.
Montasser El-Zayyat, a lawyer for Islamist militants, appealed to international human rights organisations to intervene and pressure German authorities into accepting the Islamists. "Both men will be in great danger if they are extradited to Egypt or any other Arab country," El-Zayyat told Al-Ahram Weekly.
According to an Arab agreement on combating terrorism, in force since last year, "Islamists deported to any Arab country will be immediately handed over to Egypt," El-Zayyat said. He added that both men are on the list of suspects considered leaders of radical groups.
The Al-Gama'a, fighting to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic state, took up arms in 1992. The government fought back by referring its members to military courts which have sentenced more than 90 people to death in the past eight years. Around 70 have been executed.
The latest execution, of two militants extradited in 1998 by Albania, took place some 10 days ago.
As a result of the Islamists' armed campaign in Egypt, almost 1,200 people, mainly militants and police, have been killed. Al-Gama'a leaders called for a unilateral cease-fire in 1997 and the group has mounted few, if any, attacks since the Luxor massacre of the same year, which claimed the lives of 58 tourists and four Egyptians.
