Militant facing death sentence arrested after return to Egypt

Aug 28, 2011, 15:37 GMT

Cairo - Egyptian police arrested a wanted Islamist militant, who faces a death sentence, after he arrived in the country on Sunday, airport officials said.

In 1999, an Egyptian military court sentenced in absentia Mohamed al-Islamboli to death, in a landmark trial that came to be known as the 'case of the returnees from Albania.'

Al-Islamboli was sentenced with 43 men, who were brought in from Albania, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. He was among 64 tried in absentia.

The men were charged with belonging to the al-Gama'a al-Islamiya Islamist group, blamed for several assassinations and bombings in the country as well as the 1997 massacre of tourists in the southern city of Luxour.

Al-Islamboli was detained shortly after his plane landed and transferred to a military prosecutor, airport sources said. His lawyer presented a request to the country's military rulers for his pardon.

Al-Islamboli has been living in exile for more than 20 years. He arrived from Tehran via Dubai, after the Iranian government requested that he leave and return to Cairo following the ouster of former president Hosny Mubarak.

During Mubarak's rule, many were found guilty of collecting money for Islamist groups and 'funding terrorism.'

The Egyptian military has been in control of the country since Mubarak was toppled in February.

Al-Islamboli is the brother of Khaled al-Islamboli, who was behind the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat in 1981. Khaled was tried by a military tribunal, found guilty, and sentenced to death in 1982.