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Al-Sisi sacks 19 more senior intelligence officers

July 27, 2015 at 12:18 pm

In a measure intended to get rid of his military opponents, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has sacked 19 senior intelligence officers, Arabi 21 news website reported on Sunday. The officers were apparently asked to leave the General Intelligence services and work in different civil ministries, including electricity, industry and tourism.

Observers say that this is the fourth batch of intelligence officers to be sacked since October 2014, when Al-Sisi sacked ten officers, bringing the total up to 40. According to reports, some of them were asked to leave following their own request and others were sacked because they suffer health problems and became unfit for their positions. Some were given early retirement.

The commentators claim that such measures are intended to get rid of Al-Sisi’s political opponents in the military and others who do not support his plans for running the country. The latest move was described as an “unprecedented massacre” of senior officers working in a sovereign security service.

Arabi 21 said that Al-Shorooq newspaper published a report about supporters of former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq being among the senior officers retrenched to different “sovereign services” in Egypt.

Earlier, Kuwaiti Parliamentarian Naser Al-Dowaila tweeted that a “number of innocent officers in the Egyptian General Intelligence Services, who had no relationship with the revolution, were arrested.” Arabi 21 said if this information was accurate, it would confirm that Al-Sisi has begun a purge of his opponents.