Alexandria Criminal Court sentenced on Thursday Mahmoud Abdel Aziz Hassan, a telecommunications engineer and member of the al-Qaeda, to life for being found guilty of terrorist acts outside Egypt.
Top prosecutor Hisham Barakat had agreed on 10 November last year to refer the accused to the criminal court over charges of joining the al-Qaeda and being involved in terrorist acts using weapons in African countries.
According to the Supreme State Security Prosecution investigations, Hassan embraced jihadist ideas and since 2009 he aimed to disable laws and constitutions in Arab and Islamic countries where Islamic Sharia is not applied.
Hassan also maintained contact with al-Qaeda members through the Internet.
According to investigations, he illegally crossed the Kenyan border to Somalia in 2010, and joined the camp of the Mujahideen Youth Movement (wing of al-Qaeda) and called himself Hakeem al-Masry as he was known among his colleagues. He then received extensive training on the use of weapons and methods of preparing bombs.
Investigations showed that Hassan participated in several hostile acts in Somalia and Kenya, and his name was mentioned in messages exchanged between the leaders of al-Qaeda in Somalia and Yemen.
Hassan confessed during the interrogations of the Supreme State Security Prosecution to have joined al-Qaeda outside the country, to have worked on developing bombs and to have been specialized in the study of gang wars.
He also confessed to training al-Qaeda members to use wireless communications devices and navigation systems.
The Kenyan authorities jailed him three months over illegal migration before he returned to Egypt where he was arrested, said the defendant.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
