Cairo: Egypt’s public prosecutor has brought before the military judiciary 292 suspected Islamic State militants, some of whom are accused of plotting to assassinate President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
The suspects are accused of belonging to 22 cells and carrying out 19 attacks in total, including the assassination of three judges who were overseeing a parliamentary election in restive northern Sinai, which borders Gaza, Israel and the Suez Canal, judicial sources and state media said. They are accused of belonging to Sinai Province, Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, which operates out of northern Sinai. Of the 292 suspects, 151 are in custody, seven are out on bail, and the rest on the run. Suspects in security and terrorism-related cases are often sent to the military courts in Egypt, but human rights activists say the military judiciary is not fit to try civilians.
The investigation had been ongoing for over 18 months, state news agency MENA said, and included confessions by 66 suspects.
The suspects include one cell consisting of six police officers and a dentist, who plotted to kill Sisi in Egypt by targeting his motorcades.
Another cell, based in Saudi Arabia, took advantage of one of its members working in a Mecca hotel where they mistakenly thought Sisi was staying.
The ring planned for the wife of one of the members to detonate a bomb at a holy site to distract security forces while they targeted Sisi and the Saudi prince.
