Sisi assassination attempt case adjourned to Feb.14

CAIRO-6 February 2018: The case of 292 defendants, who were involved in an assassination attempt of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has been adjourned on Tuesday to February 14 by Egypt’s military court.

The scheduled session is supposed to include the hearing of the witnesses’ testimonials about the defendants’ plans to assassinate Sisi and former Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef in August 2014.

The defendants are facing a long list of accusations; such as the plotting of terrorist attacks, being members of a terrorist group affiliated with IS (Daesh) and the planning of several assassination attempts including President Sisi.

The 19,000-paper-case includes several details about the investigations and statements. It was revealed that the plan included more than one attempt to assassinate Sisi. One attempt was supposed to take place in August 2014, as he was performing Umra rituals. Umra, considered the ‘lesser’ pilgrimage, is an Islamic rite which can be performed at any time of the year to the Islamic holy places in Mecca (K.S.A).

According to the investigation, the IS affiliated-Sinai Province terrorist group thought that Sisi is going to stay at the Swissotel Makkah, so they set a suicidal plan in which one of the wives of the terrorist members, called Mirvat, was going to take explosives into the hotel. The plan depended on the Mecca regulation which says that women cannot be searched inside the kingdom; especially if they were working inside the hotel. At the time, Sisi did not stay in the hotel.

The second attempt was planned by a group of dismissed police officers who were religious hard-liner. It was stated in the investigations that the officers co-operated with a dentist who was also known for his extremist thoughts. Several meetings were organized inside his clinic, according to the findings of investigations.

The plan was to target Sisi’s procession in the street. Working as police officers for a period of time gave them the knowledge how to accesses the needed information for the assassination attempt; however all of their efforts were foiled.

The officers are also accused of co-operating with the Muslim Brotherhood, providing them with information about police plans before Rabaa al-Adawiya dispersal in 2013.
The two assassination attempts and other terrorist attacks carried out by the defendants were mainly financed by several sources related to IS.

The 292 defendants in this case are also accused of assassinating three judges in Arish city, targeting several police officers and army check points and planting roadside bombs.

However, these are not the first assassination attempts that targeted Sisi since managing to topple the Muslim Brotherhood. As he was still candidate for presidency in May 2014, he revealed in an interview that he faced two assassination attempts.