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Egypt allows prison convention of outlawed militant group

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, June 27, 2002

CAIRO Ñ Egypt has sponsored a convention by an outlawed Islamic opposition group in an attempt to end its insurgency policy.

Authorities arranged the unprecedented convention by the Gamiat Islamiya in a desert prison at Wadi Al Naturan in western Egypt earlier this month.

About 500 Gamiat members were brought to the facility, where they were addressed by four leaders of the organization.

All of the participants are serving sentences connected with Islamic insurgency attacks throughout the country in the 1980s and 1990s. The four leaders were sent to prison sentences of at least 25 years in connection with the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

The convention, entitled "A Ceasefire Initiative," was closed to the media with the exception of the government-owned Al Mussawar weekly. Al Mussawar editor Makram Mohammed Ahmed recorded a video and published an account of the Gamiat convention in his magazine on Wednesday.

The Gamiat members were addressed by the group's leader Karam Zohdi as well as ideological chief Najah Ibrahim, Ali Sharif and Osama Hafez. All four Gamiat leaders, regarded as a minority in the group's leadership, expressed support for an end to insurgency attacks.

Al Mussawar reported that the convention dealt with Islam's view of the use of violence. Hafez said attacks against civilians are forbidden and violate Islam, including the religion's tenet of Jihad, or holy war.

"Our biggest mistake was our interpretation of Jihad and using this to kill civilians or tourists," Sharif was quoted as saying, "despite the fact that this is not the real meaning of Jihad in Islam."

Islamic sources said the convention was part of the Egyptian regime's drive to coopt Gamiat and replace most of its leadership. The organization announced a ceasefire in 1997 after 71 people, most of them tourists, were killed in a Gamiat attack in the southern resort of Luxor.

The call by Gamiat leaders to reform the movement into a peaceful organization is a condition for their eventual release from prison, the sources said. An estimated 1,500 Gamiat members have already been released.

Last week, Gamiat leader Zohdi announced that his organization would issue an apology to the Egyptian people for the insurgency campaign. Zohdi termed the insurgency campaign "criminal violations of Egyptian law."

During the convention, Gamiat leaders were asked whether their call for an end to Islamic insurgency attacks constituted a tactical or strategic change. Some of the Gamiat members suggested that the leaders were swayed by the government's offer for an early release.

"An agreement with Jews can be temporary for a limited period until war against them is resumed," Zohdi said. "But in a peace agreement between Muslims there can be no exit."

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