Freed Islamic Jihad group member Tarek el-Zomor, center, waves to supporters as he is received by his wife, left, and his daughter, right, upon his release from Tora prison in Cairo (Photo: AP)
Al-Jama'a Islamiyya leader and founder of its "Building and Development" Party, Tarek El-Zomor, accuses Egypt's secret police on Friday of fabricating the alleged Nasr City terrorism cell as a scare tactic. El-Zomor also claims internal terrorism operations are long gone.
"State Security orchestrated the Nasr City incident in an attempt to regain its hold over Egyptian society, which they lost after the revolution," he told German DPA news agency.
"Those who were involved in the Nasr City incident perhaps were transporting Libyan weapons to Syria to support the uprising," he added.
On Wednesday, Egypt's State Security apparatus announced that it had begun questioning eight alleged members of a 'terrorist cell' in Cairo's Nasr City district, accused of planning terrorist attacks throughout the country.
Group members are accused of possessing weapons, planning the assassination of public figures, and seeking to topple Egypt's elected government, according to investigators.
Tarek El-Zomor was convicted in 1984 alongside his cousin Aboud El-Zomor for their role in the assassination of Egypt’s former President Anwar Sadat and belonging to the Islamic Jihad group. They were later released from prison in May 2011, a few months after former president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in the 25 January uprising.
The cousins have already served their terms and were ordered to be released. However, they were never set free because of the Interior Ministry's power to hold prisoners for five more years on the basis of security.
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