Egyptian interior minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar revealed Sunday that 13 Muslim Brotherhood operatives had fled to Turkey after the assassination of chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat last June, for which “Hamas trained, prepared and oversaw implementation” in the Gaza Strip.
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Egypt’s interior minister says the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian militant group Hamas were behind the assassination of the country’s chief prosecutor in a 2015 bombing. Abdel Ghaffar said the 14 people who “directly participated” in the killing were “part of a cell of 48 people who had planned. a big conspiracy” against Egypt.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri condemned the “baseless” accusations.
Barakat, 64, was killed by a vehicle bomb in Cairo in June 2015.
Six individuals were detained on Saturday for 15 days pending investigations into their suspected connection to Barakat’s assassination, for which nobody has officially claimed responsibility for so far. The Muslim Brotherhood denied involvement. Abdel-Ghaffar blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the killing previous year of Hisham Barakat, the country’s former chief prosecutor, who oversaw cases against thousands of Islamists. Since Morsi’s ouster, Hamas has had strained relations with Sisi.
The Egyptian judiciary says it is independent of the government and military, but some judges have been accused of bias after handing down lengthy jail terms and mass death sentences.
Barakat’s assassination cast doubt on Egypt’s ability to contain the insurgency, which has seen hundreds of police and soldiers killed since Sisi took over. The split within the ranks of the group during the past few months reflects the deep crisis that the organisation is experiencing after one of its opposing wings made a decision to embrace a violent approach and form various committees to carry out terrorist operations.
He added that the elements of the group were trained by the Palestinian Hamas movement to carry out the assassination, noting it was done via an 80-kg explosive device.
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The most active militant group is Sinai Province, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Egypt has jailed thousands of people, mainly Islamists, since Morsi’s overthrow.
