Blind Sheikh’s family call Egypt President Mursi on release pledge

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat – Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al-Awsat, Dr. Abdullah, the son of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the spiritual leader of Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, revealed that his father was pleased with Dr. Mohammed Mursi’s election, adding that he has not yet learned of President’s Mursi’s pledge to secure his release.  Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman is serving a life sentence in the United States after being convicted in 1995 for his involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, and for planning to launch other terrorist operations including an attack on the United Nations headquarters.

Abdullah Abdel-Rahman told Asharq Al-Awsat that: “My father held a telephone conversation with his family from his cell on Thursday, during which he was informed of Dr. Mursi’s victory in the presidential elections, and asked us to congratulate him on his behalf”.

He pointed out that his father is still unaware of President Mursi’s call for his release, because the new president issued this demand on Friday, after Omar Abdel-Rahman’s phone call with his family. Abdullah also revealed that the Abdel-Rahman family has conducted phone calls with the newly-appointed president to pursue this case.

Dr. Abdullah explained that his father had initially declared his support for Salafi candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, before he was ruled out of the presidential race due to his mother holding US citizenship. In the first round of the elections, contested by 13 candidates, Sheikh Omar supported Dr. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who came fourth, and subsequently declared his support for Mursi in the run-off.

In his speech last Friday in Tahrir Square, President Mursi called for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman on humanitarian grounds, to which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded: “I think it’s very clear that he [Omar Abdel-Rahman] was given due process. He was tried and convicted for his participation in terrorist activities, most particularly the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. The evidence is very clear and convincing, and he was sentenced to life in prison, and we have every reason to back the process and the sentence that he received and will do so”.

Yasser Ali, the acting spokesperson for the Egyptian President, confirmed that President Mursi’s statements on the issue of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman’s release was borne out of sympathy with the Sheikh’s family from a humanitarian perspective, not a legal one, stressing that Egypt respects the laws and criminal convictions issued in any country that possesses a stable legal system. However, he pointed out that the humanitarian grounds of this case should be taken into account in order to reach a resolution within a legal framework.

Abdullah claimed that his father continues to suffer mistreatment in US custody, saying: “My father washes his own clothes, despite his age and failing sight, and despite the fact he has become immobile and uses a wheelchair”. He added that the US authorities sometimes prevent him from calling his family, under the pretext of punishment, although US prison regulations allow inmates to conduct telephone calls with their families twice a month.

Dr. Abdullah added that his father has also been subjected to moral and psychological subversion as punishment for the protest vigils staged in his honor in Egypt, organized by his family, calling for his release. Abdullah said: “We have submitted several requests to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces [SCAF], the government, the Prime Minister, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the US Embassy in Cairo for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, and we also protested in front of the US Embassy, but to no avail”.

Abdullah went on to say: “We have received the support of the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar and the approval of the Foreign and Interior ministries, and the national security and intelligence apparatuses.  This leaves only the consent of SCAF in order for us to submit our application to the US administration. Now that Dr. Mursi has assumed the presidency, we hope to see this case moving forward effectively”.

He pointed out that his father has renounced violence and appeared in the American media after the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 to condemn the incident, saying: “Sheikh Omar condemned Muslims undertaking any acts of violence in the countries where they reside. He said that when a Muslim enters any country with a visa, he has signed a security pact with that state that cannot be undone”.

The Egyptian judiciary has acquitted Omar Abdel-Rahman of all charges relating to his participation in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981, after he was detained for over three years following this crime.  From his cell in America, Abdel-Rahman also declared his support for an initiative to stop violence launched by Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya in Egypt in 1997, which helped to stem the tide of terrorism that was sweeping through Egypt in the 1990s.

Since the 25 January revolution’s success in overthrowing former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, a number of Islamist leaders – who were living abroad to avoid persecution from the security services – have returned to Cairo. The Egyptian authorities have also released several Islamist leaders from Egyptian prisons, most notably Abboud and Tarek al-Zumar, who were convicted in the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.