Sadat's killers released
2005-11-08 23:02
Cairo - Two leading Islamic militants, jailed for the 1981 killing of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat, had been released after 24 years behind bars, said prison officials and a lawyer on Tuesday.
The prison officials said Nageh Ibrahim and Fouad el-Dawalibi, both founding members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, once Egypt's largest Islamic militant group, were released last Wednesday.
The two men, believed to be in their early 50s, were convicted for taking part in Sadat's killing during a Cairo military parade on October 6 1981.
Men freed 'as part of truce'
It was not immediately clear why they were released, but leading Islamist lawyer Montasser el-Zayat said on Tuesday he believed the men were freed as part of a truce between the militant group and the government.
Ibrahim and el-Dawalibi were among the architects of a truce with the government announced in 1997 and had advocated moderation and peace in numerous books the group published three years ago.
Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, or Islamic group, in its campaign to overthrow the government during the 1990s killed more than 1 000 people, mostly militants, tourists and police.
The group also opposed Egypt's 1979 peace deal with Israel that Sadat brokered.
- AP