Mamdouh Ismail (Arabic: ممدوح إسماعيل) is an Egyptian defence attorney and a former member of "the Jihad group" (later called Egyptian Islamic Jihad), who since the 1980s has represented various Egyptians accused of terrorism offences in Egypt. He was arrested himself on 29 March 2007[1] and is now accused[2][3] of complicity in an "Egyptian project" of al-Qaeda, taking his orders from Ayman al-Zawahiri via Muhammad Khalil al-Hukaymah (al-Qaeda propaganda chief) and Hani al-Sibai (publicist for Egyptian Islamic Jihad). All three—Ismail,[2] al-Sibai,[4] and al-Hukaymah[5][6]—deny that charge. Ismail is also charged with incitement.[7] As of late 2011, he was a member of the Authenticity Party.[8]
When Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in June 2006 and replaced by someone with the previously unknown pseudonym Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the American military soon identified the latter as Abu Ayyub al-Masri. It was Mamdouh Ismail who then started the false rumour that Abu Ayyub was already in prison in Egypt.[9]
Ismael has publicly objected to a reconciliation between Cairo and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.[7] In 1999 he was refused permission to establish an Islamist political party (called Hizb ash-Shari'a) with the help of fellow lawyer Muntasir al-Zayyat.[10] Those two worked alongside Hani al-Sibai as well, before the latter took refuge in the UK.[3]
Ismael was one of the hundreds who were rounded up following the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat in 1981; he served three years.[7] The arrest in 2007 is his first since that time.
References
edit- ^ Egypt detains lawyer on charges of funding Al-Qaeda, AFP, 4 April 2007
- ^ a b Egypt: Attorney Indicted for Supporting al-Qaeda, Asharq Alawsat, 4 April 2007
- ^ a b Cairo: Lawyer accused of supporting Islamists "on orders" from al-Zawahiri[usurped], Dar al-Hayat (Lebanon), 2 April 2007; in Arabic
- ^ al-Sibai's statement, in Arabic, 2 April 2007 Archived 3 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Al-Qaida No. 2 avoiding phone, Internet, UPI, 5 April 2007
- ^ Muhammad Khalil al-Hakaymah Issues Statement Denying Charges Brought Upon Mamdouh Ismail by Egyptian Authorities, SITE Institute, 6 April 2007 Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Prominent Islamist lawyer arrested, accused of membership in militant group, AP, 3 April 2007 Archived 9 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Al-Salama wal Tanmeya Party: (Safety and Development Party)". Aswat Masriya. 6 December 2011. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ Iraq al-Qaeda chief jail mystery, BBC, 6 July 2006
- ^ The limits of tolerance Archived 13 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Al-Ahram, 25 November 1999