Egypt: Democracy For All--Including Terrorists Involved In The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing

The Egyptian protesters are not done yet--they are still pressing for reforms. Among them is the release of political prisoners. At first, the protesters pressed for the release of radicals. But now, Egyptian protesters want the rest of the political prisoners released--including those involved in terrorism:

"They are victims—what they have done is a reaction to torture," said Wael Abbas, one of the prominent youth campaigners behind the demonstrations on Cairo's Tahrir Square that precipitated Mr. Mubarak's downfall.In a narrative taking hold among Egypt's new revolutionaries, these al Qaeda-affiliated militants are seen as having been pushed to violence by the excesses of the overthrown dictatorship. Now, these people say, the militants represent no threat to the future democracy.


Khaled Dweik, who has helped run the tent city that until Wednesday hosted protesters, agreed. "Terrorism is impossible in Egypt now," he said. "If you have repression or injustice, people either go kill others or kill themselves. But if they have freedom, they express their creativity and help build their country."

Dweik overlooks the 3rd possibility: killing others creatively--for instance those terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, who are among those who would be released:

Many of the Islamist prisoners in Egypt belong to Gamaa Islamiyya, a movement that was responsible for killing hundreds of foreign tourists, policemen and secular intellectuals, in addition to involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York. Gamaa Islamiyya was, along with Ayman al Zawahri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a founding member of al Qaeda. Several Gamaa Islamiyya leaders have renounced violence over the past decade.

Some 500 prisoners jailed for links to Gamaa Islamiyya have already been set free in two batches over the past two weeks, said Montasser Zayat, a former Gamaa Islamiyya activist who is now an attorney representing Islamist detainees.

Apparently, one of the benefits of Mubarak's harsh rule was a lack of sympathy for terrorists, especially after Islamists gunned down Anwar Sadat in 1981, when emergency laws were put into effect. Those who were convicted were sentenced by military courts

And the US took advantage of this after 9/11--sending scores of terrorism suspects to Egypt.

Apparently, Egyptians have found something to do when they are not raping women or shooting Christians.

Technorati Tag: Egypt.