The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Islamist lawyer names names

Montasser Al Zayat, the Islamist lawyer who defended many members of Al Gamaa Al Islamiya in the 1990s, and reportedly helped broker the 1997 ceasefire with the government, has a new book of memoirs out called "Al Gamaa Al Islamiya... An Inside Look" (الجماعات الإسلامية.. رؤية من الداخل).

Yesterday's Al Hayat review of the book says that it includes a detailed and graphic account of the torture that Al Gamaa Al Islamiya leaders were subjected to when they arrested following the assassination of Anwar Al Sadat in 1981. The book names names of those officers who carried out the torture, "some of whom have become stars of the judiciary talking about human rights and asking the regimes to respect human rights."

Unfortunately the article doesn't give names, and I haven't read the book yet. But if there are explicit torture accusations against sitting judges, then this sounds like something worth pursuing.