Last week, incarcerated leaders of the militant Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya announced their commitment to abandoning violence, and conveyed an unprecedented apology to victims of their attacks. Jailan Halawi searches for the story behind the attitude shift Click to view caption Although it has been clear -- since mid-1997 -- that Egypt's armed militant Islamist groups were in retreat, it was only earlier this week that the public got a very vivid look at how much things have changed since the early '90s when the Islamists waged a violent campaign to topple the government. A 19-page interview with the jailed leaders of the country's largest armed militant group, Al- Gama'a Al-Islamiya, in the latest issue of Al-Mussawar, seems to show that the group's strategies have experienced a rather radical shift. Speaking to the news- weekly's editor-in-chief Makram Mohamed Ahmed, himself a target of a failed Gama'a assassination attempt in 1989, Karam Zuhdi, a self-proclaimed leader of the underground group, now says Al- Gama'a owes the Egyptian people "an apology for the crimes which [the group] has committed against Egypt. We are even thinking," Zuhdi continued, "of paying blood money to the victims". Shifting strategies is a common political tactic, but when it happens with militant armed Islamist groups, a lot of question marks tend to pop up. In mid-1997, when several key leaders of the groups announced what later became known as the "cease-fire initiative," calling upon their followers to halt all anti-government attacks, many political analysts questioned the initiative's authenticity, describing it as a manoeuvre to buy time, reunite the groups' ranks and prepare for a new offensive. Supporters of the "initiative" argued that more than six years of violence had brought more harm than good to their movement, and that it was useless to try to topple a powerful regime by force. The high-profile, 19 June Al- Mussawar interview represents the first time Al-Gama'a's "historic leaders" -- serving sentences for their role in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat -- have been allowed to directly address the public, in an attempt to explain the reasons behind the shift in their strategy. According to Zuhdi, "Inside Al- Gama'a and other [Islamist] groups some people know that we have revised our positions in accordance with Islamic Shari'a (law) and found that killing civilians is prohibited. It is not right to rebel against the state at all. We, for example, have reviewed the issue of rebellion against the state with weapons, and we found that there are many points barring and prohibiting such rebellion." The bombshell hit hard since Zuhdi and the other leaders had for years advocated violence, arguing that the government was a fair target because of its "sinful" behaviour. The deadliest of attacks, claiming dozens of lives, were justified as a struggle in the name of God. But the Al-Mussawar interview posed other intriguing questions as well: Why have the security bodies allowed jailed leaders of Egypt's main extremist group to discuss their renunciation of violence in an unprecedented interview with a leading Egyptian journalist? After all, the government has consistently expressed its doubts that Al-Gama'a's 1997 cease-fire offer was genuine, with security officials clearly stating that there could be no truce with "terrorists" who conduct armed struggle against the regime, killing civilians, tourists and policemen, and harming the country's economy. The interview, however, coupled with the appearance earlier this year of four books in which Al-Gama'a leaders made similar calls for non-violence, indicate that the government may now be willing to accept that the group has radically changed its philosophy. According to Diaa Rashwan, an expert at Al-Ahram's Centre for Political and Strategic Studies and the managing editor of the annual State of Religion in Egypt Report, the interview represents "a continuation of what President Hosni Mubarak has consistently said, as recently as his visit to the US earlier this month, that Egypt's example in handling terrorism is the most successful one". The interview, said Rashwan, was also an indirect response to the fierce media campaign launched by the US against Egypt, describing members of Al- Gama'a as potential warriors for Al-Qa'eda. "When it comes to matters of security, there's a conflict between the Egyptian and American views," Rashwan said. Prior to the 11 September attacks, he explained, the US considered Osama Bin Laden's Al- Qa'eda organisation's only link to Egypt the underground Jihad group led by Bin Laden's lieutenant Ayman El-Zawahri. But following the attacks, the US has been merciless in its search for potential perpetrators. "They are now expanding their definition of a terrorist to any Muslim with a beard," Rashwan noted. "They have gone hysterical with their declared war on terrorism." Last month, Rashwan explained, "the US decided that members of Egypt's Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya may potentially be dormant cells of Al-Qa'eda, which directly contradicts the Egyptian view." As such, Al-Mussawar's interview with Al-Gama'a leaders was profoundly important, noted Rashwan, because it showed the group's seriousness about its transformation from "an extremist religious group, to a religious one operating within society on the basis of an Islamic ideology". While Mubarak has offered amnesty or reduced sentences to jailed extremists who renounced violence, officials have not yet decided whether they will release Al-Gama'a's historic leaders or not. In photographs accompanying the Al-Mussawar interview, Ahmed is sitting at a conference table in Cairo's Torah Prison with Zuhdi and 11 other Al-Gama'a leaders. Four wear the red jumpsuits reserved for prisoners sentenced to death (Mubarak has yet to ratify these capital sentences). Eight others, including Zuhdi, are serving life sentences. Although generally eligible for parole after 20 years, there has been no word on whether Al-Gama'a leaders who have completed 20 years in prison will be released this year. Meanwhile, although more than 1,500 members of Al-Gama'a have won their release from prison by denouncing violence, the government is simultaneously still making clear that if a threat still exists, it will be fiercely dealt with. Two weeks ago police arrested Salah Hashem, one of the founders of the group who renounced violence in the 1980s. News reports quoted police as saying Hashem had recently been in contact with militants abroad who oppose the cease-fire initiative. The government's response to militant violence has consistently depended on the security apparatus, which has generally shown that it has the upper hand. Over the years they successfully managed to drain the groups' resources and cut off their communication with their expatriate leadership. Police rounded up thousands of militants, combing the sugarcane fields of Upper Egypt and enlisting international support to extradite militants accused of masterminding attacks from abroad. Over 1,000 suspects were also referred to military tribunals, where defendants have no right of appeal, and at least 100 were sent to the gallows. This, analysts argue, is clear evidence that the militants' change of strategy is not the result of a "deal" with the government. On more than one occasion Interior Minister Habib El-Adli has stressed that there will be no dialogue or concessions with terrorists. At the same time, El-Adli said those who chose to abandon their "deviant ideas" and re- integrate in society would always be welcomed. "You cannot twist the government's arm, and I am sure Al- Gama'a leaders who have spent 20 years in prison know that for a fact," Rashwan said. He predicted that the government could positively respond to the unconditional cease-fire with other means, such as improving prison conditions, releasing large groups of administrative detainees and moving inmates to prisons closer to their towns and villages. "I very much doubt that the leaders will be released even after they've served their terms. The best case scenario would be a delay in implementing their death sentences for an indefinite period of time," he said. But according to a political analyst speaking on condition of anonymity, the prison interview indicates the government's willingness to reconsider the way the leaders will be dealt with. "Twenty years later, the regime seems to have found a way to release and co-opt them into the fight against terrorism. They need people who carry weight to influence their counterparts and announce a historic reconciliation," the source said. Moreover, the source opined that the leaders are friends of militant leaders in Afghanistan and at large, hence, "adopting such a peaceful stance definitely carries a message to the expatriates". With the last few years seeing Mubarak granting amnesty to scores of prisoners on occasions like the Eid feasts, it might just be possible that next month's 50th anniversary of the 23 July Revolution will witness a major reconciliation.
