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EGYPT: PROMINENT ISLAMIST MILITANT HABARA EXECUTED AMID THREATS OF RETALIATION
December 15, 2016: Egypt executed prominent Islamist fighter Adel Habara, state media said, days after a top court rejected his final appeal and in defiance of militant threats to ignite "a volcano of jihad" across the country.
Habara, 40, was sentenced to death in 2014 for killing 25 army conscripts in Northern Sinai in August 2013. He was hanged early on December 15 after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed off on the death sentence, state news agency MENA said.
Sisi has launched a fierce crackdown on Islamists since as Egypt's then-military chief he overthrew the country's democratically elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July 2013.
He is battling a raging insurgency in Northern Sinai, led by Sinai Province, the Egyptian affiliate of Islamic State. The militant group has killed hundreds of soldiers and police in regular attacks that have intensified since Sisi took power.
After Habara's appeal was rejected by the Court of Cassation on December 10, Islamic State supporters issued warnings to Sisi online not to carry out the execution.
MENA said Habara had been taken from his cell at the maximum security Aqrab, or Scorpion, jail in Cairo to the Court of Cassation, where he was hanged in the presence of judicial officials. (Sources: Reuters: 15/12/2016)
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