Gamiat leader Mohammed Yassin has confirmed the flow of Islamists to
Egypt. Yassin said he was tracking the movement of a leading member,
Mohammed Islambouli, the Al Qaida-aligned brother of the man accused of
assassinating Sadat.
"They told him [Islambouli] to leave about a month ago and he chose to
travel to Pakistan," Yassin said. "I am told that he is back in Iran and
will soon leave for Egypt."
In an interview with the Saudi-owned Al Hayat daily, Yassin said he was
helping coordinate the return of Gamiat members from Iran with Egypt's
Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry, Middle East Newsline reported. He suggested that the new military
regime
was not opposed to the arrival of the exiled insurgents.
Iran was said to have harbored at least 25 Gamiat and other members of
the Islamist opposition linked to the assassination of Sadat. The sources
said many of the fugitives have been ordered to leave Iran over the next
few weeks.
The exodus of the Egyptian fugitives was said to mark a major element in
a reconciliation effort by Cairo and Teheran. Egypt has long linked
reconciliation to the expulsion of fugitives harbored by the Teheran regime.
So far, Egypt's military regime has not been arresting the returning
fugitives, the sources said. This included Hisham Ramadan, a Gamiat member
linked to Taliban and Al Qaida, and who returned to Egypt in early August.
Not all of the Islamists harbored by Iran were returning to Egypt. The
sources said members of another insurgency group, Jihad, were seeking asylum
in other countries.
"Egypt wants to close the file and have no Egyptian Islamists in
Teheran over the next few days or weeks at most," Yassin said.