Security delegation arrives in Kuwait to escort 8 fugitives back to Egypt

CAIRO - 15 July 2019: An Egyptian security delegation arrived in Kuwait on Monday three days after the arrest of eight Egyptian fugitives convicted of supporting and financing militant operations in Egypt by the Kuwaiti Security Apparatus.

The detection of the cell affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood - which is outlawed in Egypt - is a result of the interrogation of terrorist Hisham Ashmawi carried out by the Libyan and Egyptian authorities, who was handed over to Egypt earlier this year, a source revealed.

The Kuwaiti authorities are still conducting investigations to unveil the accomplices of the cell members and if they are foreigners or natives.

Collective escape of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members in Kuwait
Around 300 Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members fled from Kuwait in the last period, sources stated to “Al-Qabas” Kuwaiti newspaper.

The fugitive members headed to Turkey, Australia, Britain, and another Arab country in fear of extradition due to their conviction in several cases in their homeland.

The collective escape occurred before the Kuwaiti’s Ministry of Interior’s announcement on Friday 12th of July that it had arrested eight members of a Muslim Brotherhood cell. Those were sentenced to prison terms in Egypt for committing terror attacks, including the assassination of the Egyptian Attorney General, Advisor Hisham Barakat in 2015.

Ibrahim Rabie, a former brotherhood leader, affirmed that there is a state of fear and anxiety among the group members abroad, due to the great anticipation in handovers to leaders internationally, which consecutively leads to a confusion within the terrorist group externally.

The Muslim Brotherhood, also known as the Society of Muslim Brothers, are a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and school teacher, Hassan Al Banna in 1928. In April, 2018, Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail issued a law to regulate the procedures of custody, administration and disposal of the Muslim Brotherhood’s funds as a means of control due to its terrorist operations in Egypt.