Middle East News
Egypt orders retrial of brother of new al-Qaeda leader
Jun 28, 2011, 15:09 GMT
Cairo - An Egyptian military court ordered on Tuesday a retrial for Mohamed al-Zawahiri, the younger brother of al-Qaeda's new leader, after accepting his appeal against a death sentence issued against him 13 years ago.
In 1998, he was sentenced to death in absentia for undergoing military training in Albania and planning military operations in Egypt.
Al-Zawahiri was released from custody in March - one of many released under an amnesty for political prisoners after the ouster of president Hosny Mubarak - after he had spent more than 10 years in prison. He was re-arrested two days later.
Mohamed al-Zawahiri is known to have been a military commander in the terrorist network Islamic Jihad, leading the group's activities in Bosnia and Albania during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
His brother, Ayman al-Zawahiri, became al-Qaeda's leader two weeks ago after the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan on May 2.
The brothers are believed to have led the Islamic Jihad movement in Egypt.
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