Trial Links Assassination of Egypt’s Attorney General to Muslim Brotherhood & Hamas

nsnbc : The Cairo Criminal Court postponed the trial against 67 person for their alleged role in the assassination of Egypt’s Attorney General Hisham Barakat to July 13. The assassination of Barakat in June 2015 has been linked to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood as well as to members of the Palestinian Hamas.

Policemen investigate the site of a car bomb attack on the convoy of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat near his house at Heliopolis district in Cairo, June 29, 2015.

Policemen investigate the site of a car bomb attack on the convoy of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat near his house at Heliopolis district in Cairo, June 29, 2015.

The Court released its decision after the first trial session that was held in attendance of 51 defendants. 16 other defendants were tried in absentia. The defendants face a number of charges including the establishment of an illegal group, executing hostile operations against judges, army and police officers, as well as targeting diplomatic headquarters and aiming to destroy State institutions.

The defendants face individual charges ranging from material support, for example by buying cars used in terrorist attacks, to the above mentioned acts of terrorism. Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek said earlier that the defendants in the case are Muslim Brotherhood affiliated and were cooperating with the Palestinian, Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Hamas.

Hisham Barakat was killed and several others were severely injured in June 2015 when a car bomb was exploded on the roadside while Barakat’s convey was passing by. The attack took place in the Heliopolis district of the capital Cairo.

Following the assassination, Egypt’s Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar claimed that members of Hamas oversaw the attack and played a major role in it.

Ghaffar noted that the Muslim Brotherhood was leading a “huge conspiracy” to destabilize the country. The group and its Gaza-based offshoot are blacklisted as “terrorist organizations” in Egypt.

Following the onset of the so-called Arab Spring in 2011 Hamas became increasingly split. The situation in Syria led one faction within Hamas to distance itself from Iran and turn against the Syrian government while others attempted to maintain good and close relations with Tehran.

Following the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, Hamas became increasingly involved in terrorism in Egypt, especially in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. The development would prompt senior Hamas legislator Yahia Mousa to warn that Hamas will pay a bitter price for interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs. Hamas has also been linked to Egypt’s Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM). The insurgency would later rebrand itself as Wilayat Sinai and pledge allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL or Daesh.

F/AK – nsnbc 15.06.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/06/15/trial-links-assassination-of-egypts-attorney-general-to-muslim-brotherhood-hamas/

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