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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
Gama'a militant sentenced to death
By Khaled DawoudThe scene was set for the conclusion of yet another trial of Islamist militants at the Bab Al-Khalq courthouse in Fatimid Cairo last Thursday. From early in the morning, dozens of police trucks carrying anti-riot policemen in full gear were positioned outside the courthouse. And in an additional security precaution, several policemen moved around with sniffer dogs, apparently searching for explosives.
Families, mostly heavily-veiled women in black dresses, also came to the courthouse, hoping to attend the session in which 14 suspected members of the country's largest militant organisation, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, were to hear the court ruling. However, policemen, fearing angry reactions, prevented the families from entering the courthouse.
Hearings had opened nearly two years ago.
In Thursday's brief session, the judge announced that he was referring the dossier of the leading defendant in the case, Shaaban Haridi, 30, to the Grand Mufti of the Republic -- an indication that he will be sentenced to death. The judge added that the judgement for the rest of the defendants would be handed down on 10 May.
Haridi, like most other militants who were sentenced to death over the past eight years, said from behind bars that he was "happy to die as a martyr for the sake of God." Shouts affirming the defendants' commitment to the goal of establishing an Islamic state echoed inside the courtroom.
The defendants had been charged with joining an illegal group acting to overthrow the government by force and staging a total of 21 attacks, in which policemen, Coptic Christians and other civilians were killed. According to prosecutors, the defendants also robbed several Christian-owned jewellery shops and government banks in order to finance their activities.
Since the defendants were tried according to the emergency law, in effect since the 1981 assassination of the late President Anwar El-Sadat, the rulings cannot be appealed. They are only subject to ratification by the prime minister, in his capacity as "military governor."
According to human rights groups, a total of 101 death sentences have been handed down against militants by both state security and military courts since the eruption of violence in the summer of 1992. Nearly 70 militants have been executed while the rest remain at large.
The sentence against Haridi was the first death sentence passed against a Gama'a militant in two years. A military court handed down nine death sentences against suspected members of the Jihad group last year, but none of them were present in court.
Although Islamist lawyer Montasser El-Zayat criticised the death sentence against Haridi, describing it as "harsh," other Islamist lawyers said they expected more death sentences because of the serious nature of the charges levelled against the defendants. The lawyers, speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, said that they considered the sentence to be "reasonable" and in line with the atmosphere of calm that has prevailed in the confrontation between the government and militants over the past two years.
Since Al-Gama'a claimed responsibility for the Luxor massacre of November 1997, in which 58 tourists and four Egyptians were killed, no major acts of violence have been reported. Al-Gama'a announced in a statement a year ago that it would stop anti-government attacks in response to an initiative by a number of the group's jailed leaders. Since then the government has released thousands of Gama'a and Jihad militants who had been held in administrative detention, in accordance with emergency law, without being charged or put on trial.
