CAIRO: Lawyer Mamdouh Ismail said he is challenging the imprisonment of Mohamed Al-Zawahri, brother of prominent Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahri, before the Supreme Military Court.
“He was sentenced to death; however, state security never implemented this ruling for 10 years and when he was released the Ministry of Interior said that there had been a mistake and detained him again,” Ismail said.
“There has been American pressure on the Egyptian government to put Al-Zawahri in prison again,” he claimed.
Mohamed Al-Zawahri was arrested from his house two days after his release in March.
Ismail said that being Ayman Al-Zawahri’s brother had its repercussions on Mohamed’s case.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces denied last week in a statement that it approved a death penalty sentence on Mohamed and two other Islamists Refa’ay Taha and Osman Al-Saman.
Ayman Al-Zawahri is tipped to take over Osama bin Laden’s position at the leadership of Al-Qaeda.
However, Ismail said that he had no information on Al-Zawahri’s family after the death of bin Laden.
