Egypt's Jama'a Islamiya (Islamic Group) senior figure, Osama Hafiz is expected to temporarily replace the group's newly arrested leader Essam Derballa, Al-Bawaba News reported Thursday. Sources inside Jama'a Islamiya said the group's Shura Council will hold a General Assembly May 25 to elect a new leader. The group's historic figures including Nageh Ibrahim and Karam Zuhdi will be invited to attend the meetings, the sources added. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB)-allied Essam Derballa was arrested Wednesday in the Upper Egypt province of Qena following an arrest warrant issued by the State Security authorities, police sources said. Badry Makhlouf, a Jama'a Islamiya leading figure, attributed the move to Derballa's on-going involvement into the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), a coalition formed in late June 2013 to reinstate the ousted MB president Mohamed Morsi. Makhlouf withdrew April 9 from the NASL, calling on other members to follow in his footsteps. Derballa's staunch ally Tarek Al-Zomur, currently fugitive in Qatar, slammed the move as a"miscalculated and alarming escalation from those who claim peace", threatening a new anti-state surge of violence would erupt. The Islamist dissenter Ahmed Sobh dismissed Al-Zomur's threats, indicating that the majority of the Jama'a Islamiya low and medium ranking members aspired to abandon extremist ideologies and get closer to the state. "The group's heavyweights, however, exert strenuous efforts to make them back down," he said. The most influential Islamic group in Egypt is currently confronting large-scale defections with Yasser Faraweila, founder of the Jama'a Islamiya Rebellion Movement stressing on his desire to adopt a more peaceful track with the incumbent regime.
