Conflicting Reports Emerge Over Execution of Militant Ashmawy

The execution of Egyptian militant Hisham al-Ashmawy has emerged conflicting reports on Monday.

Khaled Al-Masry, the lawyer of the convicted terrorist, said that his family was not been formally notified about his execution.

"I think the circulated reports about his execution are not true," said Masry.

It is reported earlier today that Ashmawy has been executed on terrorism-related charges.

Ashmawy was involved in the assassination of top prosecutor Hisham Barakat and other attacks including Al-Wahat terror assault, which lead to the death of 16 Egyptian security personnel.

He was also found guilty for attempting to assassinate former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim, plotting to target ships crossing the Suez Canal, as well as helping a member of the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis terrorist group escape from a government hospital in Ismailia.

In this case, there are 208 defendants who are charged with 54 crimes that consist of assassinations of policemen, attempted murder of former Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, and bombings of security institutions’ buildings.

Ashmawi was a former army officer and was captured in Libya late in 2018 by forces of the Libyan National Army.

Earlier in November, a military court sentenced Ashmawi to death for his participation in scores of attacks on government targets. In recent years, he has been considered the country’s most wanted terrorist for his intelligence value.

According to AP, Ashmawi, in his 40s, helped found Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a jihadi organization based in northern Sinai, before he fled to Libya.

“His military expertise which lasted until 2011 when he left the army, transformed the tiny group into a well-organized guerrilla band that later inflicted painful blows on security forces in Sinai,” AP report read.

After fleeing to Libya, he created al-Mourabitoun, a militant group blamed for most of the attacks in Egypt’s remote western desert, such as a 2017 ambush that killed nearly 30 Christian pilgrims on their way to a monastery.