Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
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Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Arabic: الجماعه الإسلاميه ) (Arabic for "the Islamic Group"; also transliterated Gamaat Islamiya, Jamaat al Islamiya, al-Jamā'ah al-Islāmiyah etc.) is a militant Egyptian Islamist movement that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union [1]and Egyptian governments. The group is dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government and replacing it with an Islamic state.
The blind cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman is the spiritual leader of the movement. He was accused of conspiring to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993 but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his espousal of a subsequent conspiracy to bomb New York landmarks, including the United Nations and FBI offices. The Islamic Group has publicly threatened to retaliate against the United States unless Rahman is released from prison.
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[edit] History
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya began as an umbrella organization for militant student groups, formed, like the Islamic Jihad, after the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s.
In its early days, the group was primarily active on university campuses, and was mainly composed of university students. In addition, Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya recruited some inmates of Egyptian jails. Its membership has since become poorer, younger, and less well educated; its main base of recruiting and support has moved away from universities to poor neighborhoods of cities, and to rural areas.
The 1990s saw Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya engage in an extended campaign of violence, from the murders and attempted murders of prominent writers and intellectuals, to the repeated targeting of tourists and foreigners, who are an important part of the Egyptian economy, and thus of the livelihoods of the people on whom the group depends upon for support. The group may have been indirectly implicated in a failed attempt on president Hosni Mubarak.
The 1991 murder of the group's leader, Ala Mohieddin, presumably by security forces, led Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya to murder Egypt's speaker of parliament in retaliation. That, in turn, caused a major government crackdown, and the further radicalization of the group.
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya militants carried out the November 17, 1997 attack at the Temple of Hatshepsut (Deir el-Bahri) in Luxor, in which a band of six men machine-gunned and hacked to death with knives 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians. Altogether 71 people were killed. The attack stunned Egyptian society, ruined the tourist industry for a number of years, and consequently sapped a large segment of popular support for violent Islamism in Egypt.
Al-Jamaa Islamiya renounced bloodshed in 1998 after a wave of violence that claimed about 1,300 lives.[2]
In September 2003 Egypt freed more than 1,000 members of the group because of the group's stated "commitment to rejecting violence," Interior Minister Habib el-Adli told Al-Jazeera.[3]
Harsh repressive measures by the Egyptian government and the unpopularity of the killing of foreign tourists have reduced the group's profile in recent years but the movement retains popular support among Egyptian Islamists who disapprove of the secular nature of Egypt's society and peace treaty with Israel.
In April of 2006 the Egyptian government released 900 members of the militant group from prison. Its founder Najeh Ibrahim was among those freed.
In an Al Qaeda videotaped message from 5th of August 2006, Ayman al-Zawahiri announced that they had joined forces with Al-Jamaa Islamiya. It was said in the message that the two groups will form "one line, facing its enemies." [4]
"May God give us victory with his help," the Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri said on the tape. It aired on the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera.
[edit] Assassination of president Anwar Sadat in 1981
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya may have been indirectly involved in the assassination of president Anwar Sadat in 1981. Karam Zuhdi, group leader of Al-Jamaa Islamiya, expressed regret for conspiring with Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. He was among those 900 militants, who were set free in April 2006 by the Egyptian government. [5]
[edit] Attacks
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya was responsible for:
- 17 November 1997 – Luxor massacre at Deir el-Bahri, Luxor, Egypt. 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed.
- 28 April 1996 – Europa Hotel shooting, Cairo. 18 Greek tourists were killed.
- 19 November 1995 – Car bomb attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. 16 people were killed.
- 26 June 1995 – attempt to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- 8 June 1992 – assassination of Farag Foda.
It was also responsible for a spate of tourist shootings (trains and cruise ships sprayed with bullets) in middle and upper Egypt during the early 1990s. As a result of those attacks, cruise ships ceased sailing between Cairo and Luxor for several years, although they have long since resumed.
[edit] Controversy over an alliance with Al-Qaeda
Deputy Leader of Al-Qaeda Zawahiri announced in a publicly released video on August 4, 2006 a new alliance with Al Gam'a al-Islamiyya. He said "We bring good tidings to the Muslim nation about a big faction of the knights of the Gamaa Islamiyya uniting with Al-Qaeda,". He said the move aimed to help "rally the Muslim nation's capabilities in a unified rank in the face of the most severe crusader campaign against Islam in its history." A Gamaa leader, Mohammad Hakaima, appeared in a portion of the video and confirmed the unity move.[6]
However, the group denied claims that it has joined forces with the international Al-Qa’ida network [1]. Sheikh Abdel Akher Hammad, a former Gamaa leader, told Aljazeera: "If [some] brothers ... have joined, then this is their personal view and I don't think that most Gamaa Islamiya members share that same opinion." [2]
[edit] References and notes
- ^ The Media Line - Egyptian Group Denies Al-Qa’ida Ties
- ^ Al Jazeera - Egyptian group denies al-Qaeda tie-up
