Following Sunday's assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Mabrouk, a senior officer at the National Security Apparatus (NSA), accusations were pointed at the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The perpetrators have not yet been arrested, although the Interior Ministry pledged to find those behind the attack soon. Mabrouk was shot dead near his home in Cairo's district of Nasr City on Sunday night while driving his car. He was shot 12 times by unknown gunmen in a drive-by shooting. An official funeral was held on Monday afternoon for Mabrouk, attended by Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, Local Development Minister Adel Labib, and Manpower Minister Kamal Abu Eita. The Interior Ministry said that Mabrouk was responsible for investigating cases filed against deposed president Mohamed Morsi, as well as a number of militant cells. “We cannot reveal the identities of the perpetrators but we are still investigating the case,” Major General Hani Abdel-Latif, Interior Ministry spokesman, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Although Abdel-Latif did not directly accuse the Muslim Brotherhood, he said “the Egyptian state faces fierce challenges and risks. We are in a battle against terrorism and as a result the ministry has lost 152 martyrs since 30 June.” Mabrouk was responsible for the file on Islamist groups, on top of which is the Muslim Brotherhood. In addition, he recently arrested many MB leaders including first deputy of the supreme guide Khairat Al-Shater and leading Brotherhood figures Essam Al-Erian and Mohamed Al-Beltagui. On Monday night, Abdel-Rahim Ali, director of the Arab Centre for Research and Studies and an expert on Islamist movements, revealed during a talk show that Mabrouk was also the chief eyewitness in a lawsuit accusing Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood figures of escaping from Wadi Al-Natroun prison during the 25 January Revolution. Mabrouk had conducted investigations into the lawsuit, which also includes accusations that Morsi spied for Hamas, Qatar and even the United States, according to Ali. “Mabrouk's evidence included recorded phone calls that allegedly took place between Hamas figures and Brotherhood leaders in Egypt — including Morsi,” Ali said while presenting the police report issued on Mabrouk for the lawsuit. For Ali, Mabrouk's report, in which he accuses Morsi of spying, in addition to his role in arresting MB leaders are the reasons behind his assassination. On 23 June, during Morsi's rule, the Ismailia Appeals Court referred the case in which Morsi and 13 leading MB members are accused of spying and of conducting contacts with foreign elements to the general prosecution for further investigation. At that time, Morsi's minister of state for parliamentary and legal affairs judge Hatem Bagato said the Ismailia court verdict referring Morsi and the other Muslim Brotherhood leaders to the prosecution to investigate the case did not affect the legal and constitutional status of the president, arguing that preventing the president from conducting his work requires the approval of two-thirds of the parliament. On the other hand, a number of pro-Morsi activists denied the accusations levelled at the MB as being groundless, claiming that the MB would not benefit from the assassination of Mabrouk. Seif Al-Banna, a member of the Islamists Without Parties Movement, posted in his Facebook account saying, “The assassinated officer, whom the media falsely reported was going to testify against Morsi in the case, is a negation witness and hence his testimony was about to prove Morsi innocent, not the opposite.” The assassination of Mabrouk came just two months after the failed assassination attempt on the life of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, when a car bomb targeted his motorcade in Nasr City after he had left home for the ministry's downtown headquarters. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, a militant group, claimed responsibility. Mabrouk's assassination echoed the five-month-old assassination of another NSA officer, Mohamed Abu Shakra. Abu Shakra, a 30-year-old officer at the NSA anti-terrorism department, was killed by unidentified militants in Arish, in the Sinai Peninsula last June, also while driving his car. Due to the fact that the NSA officers do not work on the ground and are not identified, many assume that a breach in the NSA database had occurred, which is why its officers have become repetitive targets. Major General Fouad Allam, a security expert and former deputy head of the Supreme State Security Apparatus, said: “There is no leaking in the database of the NSA; it is only a rumour.” The State Security Apparatus, now restructured and named as the NSA, was infamous for its role in political repression during the 30-year rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. “Brotherhood members have in advance prepared lists to assassinate NSA officers and they are currently implementing these plans,” Allam told the Weekly. Following Morsi's overthrow on 3 July, police and security personnel were subject to recurrent attacks by suspected Islamists. In July, at least two police stations outside Cairo were bombed. In addition, numerous police stations were also attacked across the country in the aftermath of the crackdown on the pro-Morsi sit-ins. Video footage that went viral on social media networks showed an attack on a police station in Giza's Kerdasa district that left at least nine policemen dead. Such terrorist attacks reminded commentators of previous assaults by the Islamists in the 1980s and 90s against the rule of Mubarak, when senior officials, including the parliamentary speaker and interior minister, were targeted. At that time, Egypt was rocked by recurrent bomb attacks by jihadist fighters and Islamist militants targeting tourist sites across the country, which seriously affected tourism and threatened security in the country. “As we did before in the 1990s, I'm confident that Egypt is going to eliminate terrorism again in a short time as the NSA and other security agencies will shortly be capable of putting an end to these terrorist groups,” Allam said. Following the assassination of Mabrouk, the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights expressed its “grave concern” regarding the growing wave of violence and political assassinations. It called for an urgent investigation into the case, the referral of the offenders to the judiciary so as to be a deterrent “for anyone tempted to violate human rights”.
