The Islamic Lawyers Association declared their solidarity with the family of Omar Abdel Rahman, a member of the Islamic Group imprisoned in the U.S. for involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings, at a press conference before the U.S. Embassy Monday. The conference was attended by a number of Islamist officials and personalities, as well as Abdel Rahman's lawyer Omar Moussa and Montaser Al-Zayat. Safwat Abdel Ghani, member of the Islamic Group's Shura Council, stressed that Abdel Rahman's imprisonment belongs to the Egyptian nation as a whole rather than to one particular group, and asked President Obama to focus on Abdel Rahman's case. Montaser Al-Zayat said that the Egyptian government has the same policies of the former regime, and continues to impede the release of Abdel Rahman. He added that the Mubarak regime tried to prevent all attempts to release “The Blind Sheikh,” as Abdel Rahman is known, most notably pressuring the Government of Qatar to drop its offer to host the Islamist leader under house arrest. President of the Islamic Lawyers Association Mahmoud Abdel Shafi said that Abdel Rahman was one of the loudest opponents of the former regime. Islamic Thinker Khaled al-Sharif condemned the failure of Islamic thinkers, officials and organizations to resolve Abdel Rahman's case.
