From: sehari@iastate.edu (Babak Sehari)
Subject: Egypt sentenced a Jihad member to life imprisonment with hard labor.
Originator: sehari@class1.iastate.edu
Organization: Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:46:06 GMT

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=START=   XMT: 14:00 Tue Dec 15  EXP: 14:00 Wed Dec 16

Egypt sentenced a Jihad member to life imprisonment with hard labor.

CAIRO, EGYPT (DEC. 15) UPI - Egypt warned ''any foreign powers'' against
interfering in its internal affairs, saying it would fight any such attempts
with utmost strength, local media reported Tuesday. 

Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said, in an apparent reference to Iran, ''Egypt
would strongly face up to any foreign attempt at interference or
destabilizatoion,'' the daily Al Ahram reported. 

Several Egyptian officials recently have accused Tehran of funding training
camps for Muslim militants in Egypt's southern neighbor Sudan, and of arming
them and supporting their activities. 

The last remaining Egyptian diplomat in Tehran was recalled to Cairo last week.
Commenting on his return, Moussa told a meeting of the ruling National
Democratic Party that no decision has been made on his replacement. 

Moussa, however, said Egypt's interests section in Tehran was still open. 

Press <RETURN> or <S>croll?

On Sudanese complaints of increased Egyptian military presence in the disputed
border area of Halayeb, Moussa said such a presence in any Egyptian terroritry
is natural and should not cause sensitivity in Sudan, the paper said. 

Halayeb is a desert triangle area on the Red Sea measuring about 190 miles
along its base, the 22nd parallel. Egypt maintains this parallel as its
''political'' boundary under a 1898 treaty signed by Egypt and Britain on
behalf of its then-protectorate, Sudan. 

Egypt agreed to allow Sudanese civil administration in the area, which has been
inhabited by Sudanese tribes, but Sudan's decision to grant a Canadian oil firm
a concession in Halayeb's territorial waters ignited the dispute last January. 

The Canadian oil firm eventually canceled the deal because of the dispute, and
the Egyptian oil ministry is also trying to sell oil concessions there. 

Moreover, Egypt doubled its border posts in the area and asked the nomadic
population to give up their Sudanese identity papers for Egyptian documents. 

Two meetings have already been held on Halayeb, in April and October. Moussa
said the timing of another one, scheduled for January, can be changed if
needed, Al Ahram said. 

Egyptian-Sudanese relations have become increasingly strained recently
following allegations by several Egyptian officials that Sudan is a springboard
for Iranian-funded militant activities. 

According to the daily opposition paper Al Wafd, Khartoum has asked Cairo for
proof to back allegations of Sudanese involvement with Egyptian militants. 

The daily Gomhuriya reported Tuesdy that members of the outlawed militant Jihad
group had recieved military training in Afghanistan and then returned to Egypt
across its borders with Sudan and Libya. 

It also said a Jihad member sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor by a
military court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria this month had testified
he received instructions on the assassination of top Egyptian figures from
another Jihad member based in Khartoum. 

The military court on Dec. 3 had found 48 members of Jihad guilty of militant
activities and handed down the death sentence on eight men (seven of whom were
at large and tried in absentia) and life imprisonment and lesser jail terms for
the others. 

Meanwhile, Egyptian police arrested a Sudanese citizen who allegedly helped his
countrymen illegally enter Egypt with forged passports, the daily Al Akhbar
said. 

The man was apparently aided by an employee of the Egyptian passport
authorities, the paper added, who has also been arrested. 

Al Wafd reported that the two men were originally apprehended as part of the
ongoing police crackdown on the militant stronglhold of Imbaba, west of Cairo. 

The two men have also been reportedly charged with recruiting members for
militant groups and providing them with information, the paper said. 



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