CAIRO: Two men jailed for involvement in the 1981 assassination of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat were released by Egyptian authorities on Tuesday. “The Egyptian authorities have released Abboud el-Zomor and Tarek el-Zomor, who were accused in the case of Sadat's assassination,” reported al-Jazeera. Sadat assumed power in Egypt in 1970 after the death of Mohamed Abdel Nasser. He was shot and killed in 1981 by members of an Islamist group during a military parade commemorating the October 6 military victory. Sadat's death came two years after signing a peace treaty with Israel. Following Sadat's assassination, Hosni Mubarak became president of Egypt and imposed an Emergency Law on the country which is still in effect to this day. Mubarak was ousted one month ago after eighteen days of a popular revolution against him and his regime. The two released prisoners were imprisoned for participating in the assassination plot. Abboud was sentenced to 20 years for participating in the plot and attempting to overthrow the regime, and another 15 for resisting arrest. Tarek was also sentenced to 20 years for his part in the plot and 7 years for resisting arrest, a lawyer told Reuters. BM
