CAIRO — The brother of the Islamist assassin of former president Anwar Sadat returned to Egypt from exile in Iran on Sunday and surrendered to the authorities, an AFP correspondent reported.
Mohammed Shawki al-Islamboulli, who was sentenced to death in absentia for leading the terrorist network Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya in the mid-1990s, was whisked away by officials from the military prosecutor's office as he arrived in Cairo.
He is due to be tried again under Egyptian law since the earlier verdicts were handed down in his absence.
Islamboulli claimed his innocence and told reporters he had been living in Iran for the past eight years after a 16-year stay in Afghanistan.
"I returned to Egypt because I have faith in the judicial system," he said, adding that the popular uprising that ended the 30-year regime of president Hosni Mubarak in February spurred his return home.
Several relatives and members of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya were at the airport to greet him. The group renounced violence in 1998.
Sadat was shot dead by Islamist militants at a military parade in Cairo on October 6, 1981, three years after he signed the 1978 Camp David Accords that led to a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, the first by an Arab country.
Islamboulli's brother Khaled was the main person to be convicted in the case and was executed in 1982.
>>>Person | About | Day |
---|---|---|
نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |