Egypt executes ex-officer Hisham Al-Ashmawy, family not notified

The family of former Egyptian officer Hisham Al-Ashmawy said today that they have not been formally notified about his execution, his lawyer Khaled El-Masry told Reuters.

Earlier, the online website of state newspaper Al-Ahram, and the private pro-government Al-Shorouk and Al-Watan dailies reported Al-Ashmawy had been executed but later removed their reports from their websites.

“I think the media reports about his execution are not true especially after the media websites removed the reports,” said El-Masry.

Three security sources had also said Al-Ashmawy, who has been described as the country’s most dangerous Islamist militant, had been executed. An Egyptian military source who asked not to be named, however said the reports were not true.

Al-Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer, was captured in the eastern Libyan city of Derna in late 2018 and transferred by authorities loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar to Egypt in May the following year.

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He 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, the military said in November.

He led the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, Egypt’s most active militant group, before it pledged allegiance to Daesh in 2014, it said.