Egypt continues releasing Islamic groups leaderships
Egypt, Politics, 10/7/2003

News reports in Cairo said that the Egyptian authorities released more than 1000 members and personnel of the Islamic groups including some leading figures, making the number of released persons of the group that are members of the Shoura council to be 8 out of 12 members.

The released members of the Shoura council are Karam Zuhdi, Najeh Ibrahim, Fouad al-Dawaleibi, Ala al-Sharif and Asem Abdul Majid and Hamdi Abdul Rahman and Mamdouh Ali Youssef.

The release operation came after the chairman of the group's Shoura council Karam Zuhdi made a revision to the thinking of the group from inside the prison to give up violence and carrying weapons and rejecting armed conflict with the state. Zuhdi ( 51 year old ) recently made press statements in which he apologized for the operations claimed by the Islamic group, expressing readiness to pay compensation for the victims.

Zuhdi criticized in his statements the assassination of the former Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. He said that his group should not have carried out this operation. He stressed that he considers al-Sadat and all those killed among members of the group or police members in the confrontations between them as "martyrs of the fighting of sedition."

Legal sources close to the group said that the number of released persons since 1999 increased to 5,000 from a total of 16,000. The sources estimated the individuals to have had been jailed in the Egyptian prisoners during the period of armed conflict from 1981- 1997.

The decision to release the group's leaderships coincided with the declaration made by President Hosni Mubarak of a series of political reforms in the country covering to encourage democratic dialogue and cancellation of the military rule decisions, according to the emergency laws.

The Egyptian minister of the interior Habib Al-Adly announced recently that the release operation are carried out successively according to clear criteria which is proving the "sincerity in the change of the thinking of the released persons, and the extent of their commitment to give up violence."

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak-Shroeder summit falls within sustained consultations, Egyptian diplomat   (10/6/2003)
  German chancellor holds talks in Cairo, Riyadh   (10/6/2003)
  Egypt's opposition coalition call for fundamental political reforms   (10/6/2003)
  Mubarak in Riyadh meets with Fahd, Abdullah; No Egyptian forces to Iraq   (10/1/2003)
  Egyptian police release other 1000 members of the Islamic group, one leader   (9/30/2003)
  Maher accuses Israeli army of involvement in terrorist acts against civilians   (9/27/2003)

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