Islamists offer to help, but don't

Islamists offer to help, but don't

By Pakinam Amer

After a spate of terror attacks in Sharm Al Sheikh, Cairo and Taba, Islamist hardliners are offering to help pull Egypt out of the circle of violence.
Abboud Al Zommor, sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the assassination of Anwar Al Sadat in 1981, has proposed to mediate with Al Qaeda and other terror groups in return for the release of the 10,000 Islamists allegedly held in Egyptian prisons since the 1990s.
Although he has served his 20-year prison sentence, and a court order has been issued for his release, Al Zommor remains in prison. His lawyer, Mamdouh Ismail, said that the release of the political detainees would be an act of good will and send a positive message to Islamist groups.
The ongoing detention of political detainees, overwhelmingly composed of Islamists, has angered Islamist groups and provoked condemnations from local and international human rights organizations.
Ismail said he proposed that the mediation should be composed of more than just Al Zommor. “I prefer to call it an initiative, not a mediation, and I think it should include widely respected Islamic scholars and other Islamic leaders in order for it to gain the acceptability it needs,” Ismail said. The government has not yet responded to Al Zommor’s proposal.
Al Zommor’s is not the only attempt to bridge the gulf between Islamic militants and Egypt. Islamists from Alexandria, Cairo and Suez organized a conference at Al Azhar Mosque on 29 July to discuss ways in which they could help the government undo some of the damage and prevent more attacks through “reasonable” dialogue with extremist Islamic groups.
The conference, however, largely degenerated into a series of attacks on the current regime. Its unjust acts against the people, including Islamists and politicians, could be considered a kind of “terrorist attack” in their own right, attendees declared.
“We condemn the Sharm Al Sheikh attacks but we have to point out that they are a result of the regime’s pressure on the Islamic groups,” said conference organizer Kamal Habib.
Habib called the terrorist attacks “retaliation” for the government’s harsh collective punishment of Islamists.
Attendees in the grand mosque of Al Azhar, who had come for Friday prayers, applauded and shouted “Allahu akbar” when the regime was criticized.

Cairo Magazine
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