Jihadi leader Aboud El-Zomor has stated at a public conference in Assiut that the former regime’s allies are behind rising sectarian tensions in Egypt. He warned that the intention is to stir nostalgia for the ousted Mubarak regime, “when security was forced through the spread of terror.”

El-Zomor stressed that anti-revolutionary forces are spearheading such attempts to divide the country because the revolution stood for the unity of all citizens and did not discriminate between people based on their ethnicity, religion or gender.

He added that the Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya is yet to decide on which presidential candidate to back. He also said that the army’s slow pace when dealing with arrests should be viewed in a positive light, stressing that martial law would mean the destruction of Egypt and warned of attempts to trigger an army coup against the people. On the other hand, he asked the prosecutor-general to act quickly to bring members of the former regime to trial.

In his speech, El-Zomor expressed his wish for Omar Abdel Rahman, detained in America on terrorism charges, to return to Egypt. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, he added, has agreed to the former Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya leader’s return.

The veteran Islamist, in condemning clashes between Muslims and Christians, described it as unacceptable to attack people or places of worship. He added that people should have the right to convert to Islam and express their new faith freely but that Muslims should only report to official bodies any allegations that involve the kidnapping of female converts.