"Off to the calaboose wit' yez!"
An Egyptian court on Thursday convicted 26 people, including three Britons, of trying to revive an outlawed Islamic group and sentenced them to up to five years in prison. Following the sentencing, all of them burst into shouts of "God is Great, thanks be to God!"
| "Thank you, God, for getting me jugged!" |
The three Britons — Ian Malcolm Nisbett, Maajid Nawaz and Reza Pankhurst — were each sentenced to five years. One of the 26 was convicted in absentia. The defendants, first arrested in April 2002, were accused of attempting to revive Hizb-ut-Tahrir, or Islamic Liberation Party, which was banned by the government after an alleged failed coup in 1974. "We're not sad," said Nisbett, 29, who now goes by Yehiya Nisbett.
"We've always known that they're oppressors. Now they are confirming that. Thank God for everything." Nisbett's British wife, Humayra, who does not understand Arabic, started crying quietly when he indicated his sentence by holding up his hand with all five fingers extended. Pankhurst's mother, Zara, said it was a "goofy trial with a goofy judge," but did not seem disheartened by the verdict. "Thank God, they are not going to beat us, we are strong," she told The Associated Press. In London, Pankhurst's wife, Hodan, lamented the verdict. "This was our worst nightmare and it has happened," she said. "There is nothing legally we can do about it now." Lawyers for the defendants said the group was only studying the ideologies of the Islamic Liberation Party and not recruiting others to follow its thinking.
| "Yeah! They wuz just standin' on the corner, mindin' their own bidnid, when these cops comes up..." |
The Islamic Liberation Party was formed in Jordan in 1953 by Taqi Eddin al-Nabahani, a Palestinian who was bumped off died in unclear circumstances in the Palestinian territories in 1978. The group has long been underground. Its current leader, Ata Abu-Rushta, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, took over in 2003 after the death of Abdul-Kaddim Zalloum, who led the party for 26 years. |