Egyptian State Security prosecutors are now alleging that Palestinian resistance faction Hamas played a key role in the 2008 robbery of a jewelry shop in Cairo’s Zeitoun district, in which four people were killed including the shop’s owner.
Prosecutors claim that Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, had been in contact with one of the crime’s perpetrators–a Palestinian national–with the aim of planning and carrying out "terrorist operations" in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Prosecutors further claimed that the Zeitoun "terrorist cell" had included a Hamas agent named Mohamed Abdel Ati, and that the group had been in contact with certain Muslim preachers associated with religious programs aired on Arabic-language satellite channels.
According to prosecutors, investigations have also revealed a connection between the same group and a 2006 explosion on a passenger train en route to the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan from Cairo, which resulted in the death of an Australian tourist.
The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, has urged the Italian Government to extradite Hani Abu Mosalam–another alleged member of the group–who earlier fled to Italy, according to official claims.
The Egyptian government has recently escalated its media rhetoric, observers have noted, against Hamas, who’s been running Gaza, much to the dismay of the Egyptian government, Israel, and the US.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
