Releases and arrests
As 25 alleged members of Jihad face the state security prosecutor, the interior minister announces the release of a large group of repentant militants. Jailan Halawi rounds up the latest developments
The Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of 25 militants believed to be affiliated to the Jihad group, who were allegedly aiming to launch a wave of attacks against US-led forces in Iraq. The group is also believed to have ties with other radical groups worldwide, with plans to assist these other organisations in overthrowing their governments.
According to security sources, the suspects were among a larger group arrested in August on suspicion of forming a new militant cell with the aim of supporting Muslims at home and abroad in jihads both against their regimes as well as in any number of places like Palestine and Iraq.
The suspects include 19 Egyptians, three Bangladeshis, a Turk, a Tunisian and a Malaysian. The foreign suspects were identified as Al-Azhar University students who came to Egypt on scholarships granted by Al- Azhar to the Asian Muslim community.
Habib El-Adli
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Interior Minister Habib El-Adli announced the arrests in an extensive interview published on 3 September in the weekly magazine Al- Mussawer. While not part of Al- Qa'eda network, the new group was described by El-Adli as one that supports Al-Qa'eda's ideology, and aims to participate in activities against occupying forces in Iraq and Israel out of "anger at US and Israeli practices in the Arab world".
The new organisation, El-Adli explained, involves a group of militants influenced by the 'broad' ideology of jihad, which span the spectrum from a personal struggle [literal translation of jihad] to become a better Muslim all the way to engaging in battles to defend Islam and Muslims worldwide. The group was striving to participate in jihad abroad, in places like Afghanistan, alongside the Taliban and Al- Qa'eda, as well as in Iraq and Palestine. According to El-Adli, the suspects admitted to being sympathetic to jihadist ideology, which stipulated their taking part in activities meant to safeguard the rights of Muslim minorities being persecuted in some Asian countries.
Since the official end of war in Iraq, US forces have come under almost daily attacks, which Washington blames on the remaining loyalists of the ousted Saddam Hussein regime, as well as on Al-Qa'eda and other foreign militants.
The group, explained El-Adli, sought to set up several stations in various European and Arab states as focal point from which they would launch their activities. The group's has cells in Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Bangladesh, Romania, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to El-Adli.
El-Adli indicated that group members used sophisticated security precautions while traveling, including forged documents and passports. No weapons were seized at their hideout at the time of their arrest, however, and there was no evidence to prove the suspects planned any attacks inside Egypt.
All the suspects were ordered by the prosecutor general to be remanded 15 days in custody, pending interrogation. Some news reports quoted sources close to investigation as raising the possibility of the case being referred to the military prosecutor.
Egypt has successfully clamped down on terrorism, especially in the years following the 1997 Luxor massacre, which left 58 tourists, and four Egyptians, killed. For the most part, the Ministry of Interior has adopted a preemptive strategy in this regard.
Jihad and Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya are Egypt's two main militant groups that were behind a wave of violence from 1992-1997 aimed at toppling the regime and setting up a purist Islamic state.
In the Al-Mussawer interview, El- Adli said that while the ministry holds miltiants in an iron-grip, it provides encouragement to those who renounce violence in a bid to help them re-integrate into society. As such, El-Adli announced the release of 1000 repentant militants who announced their abandonment of their deviant ideologies. The move, explained El-Adli, came with a "conviction" that Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya is genuine about renouncing violence. However, he also pointed out that the release does not mean that the militants will be free of security apparatus surveillance. "Security by definition requires a continuous state of alertness, cautiousness and surveillance," El-Adli said.
