Egypt executes top terrorist extradited from Libya
Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer, led the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, before it pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014.
By REUTERSAlexandria, Egypt(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Top Egyptian terrorist suspect Hisham al-Ashmawy was executed on Wednesday following his conviction over several high-profile attacks, the country's military spokesman said.Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer, led the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, before it pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014.He then moved with a group of followers to Egypt's Western Desert, later crossing the border to Libya to join the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia, according to Egyptian officials.He was captured in the east Libyan city of Derna in late 2018 and transferred to Egypt in May 2019.Ashmawy was convicted on several charges including plotting a 2014 attack that killed 22 military guards, and the attempted assassination of a former interior minister in 2013.Military and civilian courts had sentenced him to death before and after his extradition.Egypt's military spokesman posted a picture of Ashmawy with a thick beard dressed in orange prison overalls on Twitter. "This morning the death penalty was carried out on the terrorist Hisham al-Ashmawy," he wrote.Local media including the state newspaper al-Ahram as well as security sources had said last week that Ashmawy had been executed, though the news websites later took down their reports.
