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Policy Alerts | Egypt | February 2015
The Danger of Breeding Terrorism in Overcrowded Jails: Transforming
Political Imprisonment into an Opportunity
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Publications
Over the last four decades of the 20th Century, Egyptian jails went through three different
experiences in terms of success in achieving or failing to achieve the purpose of jailing members of
extreme and radical organizations. The irony is that Egyptian jails was the breeding ground for the
rise of groups of radical thought and action.
Takfir wal-Hijra "Excommunication and Exodus", alternately "excommunication and emigration" was
the popular name given to a radical Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslim (Society of Muslims) founded by
Shukri Mustafa which emerged in Egypt in the 1960s as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood.
Torture and harsh conditions suffered by members of MB in prison led them to believe that the
enmity by the Egyptian authority is aimed against their religion because it has deviated from the
teachings of Islam. In parallel with the rise of Takfir wal-Hijra, other groups, al-Jihad and the Egyptian
al-jamāʻah al-islāmīyah, "the Islamic Group” were evolving but were less extreme in their thought.
They only accused the government of being infidel, not the whole society, but those two groups were
more organized. The power of those two groups was culminated by their success to infiltrate the
Egyptian army and assassinate the late President Anwar al-Sadat.
The experience of militant ideological violence led by al-Jihad and the Egyptian al-jamāʻah alislāmīyah ended with successful intellectual review in prison in the 1990s and the movement
formally renounced violence. This renunciation was evident after the revolution of Jan. 25, 2011
when most members of the two groups were not involved in ideological violence once again. But in
recent years, Egyptian authorities have repeated the mistakes of the 1960s and 1970s which led to
the breeding of a new generation of Jihadists in jails such as at-tawḥīd wal-jihād group (Oneness and
Jihad).
Image Source: Reuters Pictures
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
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Publications
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Publications
Policy Alerts | Egypt | March 2013
Where will the Diesel Crisis Lead Egypt?...
The alert deals with the repeated diesel shortage in Egypt, which led to traffic jams on main
roads and entrances of gas stations all over the country.
Policy Alerts | Egypt | April 2013
“Al Khosous” and the Cathedral Incidents: Internal and Exter...
The alert points to signs of sectarian sedition in Egypt in the early days of April 2013.
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