Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek approved on Sunday night the referral of 292 defendants to military judiciary over charges of attempting to assassinate President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Of the 292 defendants, 158 have been arrested, seven were released, and the fate of the rest remains unknown.
The defendants are also accused of forming 22 terrorist cells associated with the Islamic State (IS)-affiliated group “Sinai Province”.
The prosecution claimed that the defendants carried out two assassination attempts against the president from investigations they said have been ongoing for a year. One of the assassination attempts involved former police officers.
According to the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram, the year-long investigation process revealed that the defendants involved in targeting Al-Sisi formed two groups. One of the groups was assigned to assassinate Al-Sisi during his residence in Saudi Arabia while he was on Umrah, an Islamic pilgrimage.
The failed assassination was to take place while Al-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Ben Nayef were in the Islamic holy city of Mecca. The investigation claimed that five of the defendants had situated explosives on the 34th floor of the hotel where they believed the president was staying.
Al Sisi was also targeted by a terrorist cell named the “Fired Police Officers”. The cell involved six officers, one of whom has admitted that he belongs to a terrorist cell which considers Al-Sisi, the army, and police officers “apostates”, according to Al-Ahram. The officer said he sought to join “Sinai Province”.
Investigations revealed that financial and logistic support for the defendants was coming from an Egyptian national living in Syria, who was financing the groups by selling his real estate properties in Egypt.
The aforementioned two groups were also accused of killing judges in Al-Arish and carrying out violent attacks against army stationing points based in Al-Arish.
In July, Egypt’s presidential office denied rumors stemming from media reports that Al-Sisi did not attend the Arab League summit in Mauritania due to a suspected assassination plot.
Al-Masry Al-Youm published a report citing unnamed sources that claimed the presidency had learned of an assassination plot that would target Al-Sisi should he attend the summit in Nouakchott.
The sources also claimed that this is not the first time Al-Sisi has been threatened by an assassination plot. Al-Masry Al-Youm claimed this led to Al-Sisi electing not to participate in the summit.
