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  • EGYPT: Islamist Opposition Groups
    By Esther Pan
    Backgrounder
    August 1, 2005

  See Also

  Egypt, Terrorist Organizations

  ISN Security Watch

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  More From:

  International Relations and Security Network

  Jamaat al-Islamiyya, Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Egypt, Islamists)

  Updated: October 2005

  • Are the major Islamist terrorist groups in Egypt linked to al-Qaeda?
  • How are these groups connected to al-Qaeda?
  • What has Egypt done to combat these groups?
  • What is Jamaat al-Islamiyya?
  • What is Egyptian Islamic Jihad?
  • What do Egypt's Islamist terrorist groups want?

  ---

  Are the major Islamist terrorist groups in Egypt linked to al-Qaeda?

  Yes. Egypt’s two largest Islamist terrorist groups are Jamaat al-Islamiyya and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, both of which have important ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network. Offshoots of the much older and more grassroots-oriented Muslim Brotherhood, these two groups have been active since the 1970s. They draw young lower- and middle-class followers from the country’s south and from Cairo’s slums. Leaders from both groups fought alongside the Afghan mujahadeen against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Most Egyptians have expressed revulsion for the groups’ terrorist attacks, which have decimated one of Egypt’s most important sources of income, its tourism industry.

  How are these groups connected to al-Qaeda?

  Experts say bin Laden’s terror network grew in part out of Egyptian extremist groups, and many of al-Qaeda’s leaders are Egyptians. In recent years, bin Laden brought two leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Ayman al-Zawahiri and the late Muhammad Atef, into the top echelons of al-Qaeda. In addition, some members of Jamaat al-Islamiyya have reportedly joined al-Qaeda. Overall, dozens of Egyptian militants passed through al-Qaeda training camps in Taliban-run Afghanistan.

  Many experts think Zawahiri, who was jailed in Egypt for his part in President Anwar al-Sadat’s 1981 assassination, and Atef were the brains behind al-Qaeda’s deadliest terrorist operations, including the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa and the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (Atef was reportedly killed in a U.S. bombing raid in Afghanistan shortly after September 11.)

  What has Egypt done to combat these groups?

  Egypt has waged a bitter campaign of state violence, mass arrests, and financial crackdowns against Jamaat al-Islamiyya, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and other Islamist groups during much of the 1990s. Experts say the government has largely succeeded in stopping them from carrying out terrorist attacks inside Egypt. But human rights groups say that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime has often used torture as part of its crackdown and sometimes has taken family members of Islamist leaders hostage.

  Hundreds of Islamists were released from Egyptian prisons in the autumn of 2003. Among those set free, Jamaat al-Islamiyya leader Karam Zuhdi expressed regret for his collaboration with Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the 1981 assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. As a political gesture, President Mubarak’s government timed the release of Zuhdi and Islamists to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Egypt’s 1973 war with Israel. Senior Jamaat al-Islamiyya figures have expressed hope that the group may play a political role in Egypt’s future.

  What is Jamaat al-Islamiyya?

  This organization, whose name means “the Islamic group,” is Egypt’s largest Islamist militant organization. Jamaat al-Islamiyya has a presence both in Egypt and worldwide. Its spiritual leader, the blind cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, is serving a life sentence in the United States for his involvement in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. (In April 2002, the Justice Department charged that Abdel Rahman had tried to direct further terrorist operations from his cell in Minnesota.) Following a violent campaign of attacks against governmental, Christian, and other targets in Egypt, Jamaat al-Islamiyya has largely honored a March 1999 cease-fire with the Egyptian government. According to the State Department, Jamaat al-Islamiyya has not specifically attacked U.S. citizens or facilities, but exiled members of Jamaat al-Islamiyya are known to have joined al-Qaeda and trained at its camps in Afghanistan.

  What is Egyptian Islamic Jihad?

  This Islamist group, also known as the Society of Struggle, is closely tied to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and has conducted many armed attacks against Egyptian government targets over the years. Egyptian Islamic Jihad has long maintained a small cadre of loyal militants with specialized skills and training. Operating mainly outside Egypt since the late 1990s, Egyptian Islamic Jihad has, working alongside al-Qaeda, gradually turned its sights toward U.S. targets.

  What do Egypt's Islamist terrorist groups want?

  Both Jamaat al-Islamiyya and Egyptian Islamic Jihad want to violently overthrow Mubarak, whom they see as corrupt, impious, and repressive, and replace his government with an Islamist state.

   

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