Libyan army warns against rumors on Hesham Ashmawi’s case

CAIRO – 16 October 2018: The Libyan army warned all media outlets against following rumors on the updates of terrorist, Hesham Ashmawi’s investigation, who was arrested on October 8 in Derna, Libya.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Oct. 16, the Libyan army added that Ashmawi’s investigations are highly classified, and that nothing of the published or circulated information about the case is correct.

Some media outlets reported earlier that Ashmawi tried to commit suicide inside jail, which was denied by the Libyan authorities.

On October 14, The Egyptian Dar al-Ifta (Fatwa House) accused in a press statement the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood of carrying out a media campaign to mislead the public opinion and spread false information about the arrest of Ashmawi.

Dar al-Ifta pointed out that the brotherhood's media outlets published false information and systematic lies about Ashmawi in order to downplay the his successful arrest. Dar al-Ifra’s statement highlighted Muslim Brotherhood media’s claim that the terrorist arrested is not Ashmawi, but a person that looks like him.

The former Egyptian Commandos officer, who was terminated after being involved in several terrorist attacks, was arrested on Monday, October 8 in Derna, Libya. A statement released by Libyan security forces affirmed that Ashmawy was arrested alive.

Ashmawi or Abu Omar al-Muhajir is a former officer in the Egyptian Commandos; he received advanced training on special operation tasks in the United States' main training institutes.

Ashmawi turned militant and became the operations engineer of the country’s most active jihadist group, AnsarBeit Al-Maqdis(ABM), and in charge of the most important qualitative operations carried out in Sinai, Cairo and Al-Farafra oasis to deserve the title of the most dangerous wanted person in Egypt.

Ashmawy was born in 1978, and graduated in 2000 from the military academy, where he was a distinguished officer and joined the Special Forces Unit. He served in Sinai for 10 years and witnessed the bombings of Taba, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab.

The turning point in Ashmawy’s life was in 2005 when his father, Ali Ashmawy, passed away, which affected Ashmawy’s physiological health.

During this period terrorist groups started to attract and recruit young people in mosques, and Ashmawy started to attend their sessions. The Armed Forces warned Ashmawy for the first time in 2006 and he was interrogated, but he confirmed his commitment to the military principles.

However, Ashmawy continued to promote for political Islam through spreading banned books.

In 2007, a military court transferred Ashmawy to an administrative post and then referred him to retirement in 2009. He was completely expelled from the army in 2012 as he travelled to Syria twice through Turkey.

In 2013, Ashmawy moved to Sinai where he became in charge of the military wing of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. He started to develop the performance of the group and improve their militancy skills.