Islamic group's lawyer: initiatives against violence in Egypt could have worked

The lawyer of the Islamic Group in Cairo, Montaser Al Zayat, said he does not want Egypt to turn into another Algeria. He added that all the former initiatives to stop the violence were capable of stopping the state of violence witnessed by the country.

He also said it is enough that Dr. Omar Abdul Rahman who is the leader of the Islamic Organization had blessed those initiatives.

Many of the group's leaders whether those in jail or those outside the jails also expressed their satisfaction with those initiatives and said the Egyptian authorities would have lost nothing if they had accepted those initiatives, even informally.

Political circles and those concerned with the issue of the Islamic violence in Egypt were surprised with the Al Zayat's announcement that he will abandon public work and political activities. He declared he will only work on cases that have nothing to do with politics.

All the cases of violence in the Egyptian courts since 1984 had Al Zayat at the head of the defending body. He himself had been indicted with being involved in the assassination of the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on October 6 1981, as a result of which he spent three years in prison.