Yasser Tawfiq Ali El-Sirri (ياسر توفيق علي السري) ( kunya ''Abu Ammar'') is an Egyptian militant connected to the
Vanguards of Conquest The Vanguards of Conquest (''Talaa'al al-Fateh'') is a terrorist organization that was originally founded in 1993 as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia but became a separate faction that eventually folded back into the grou ...
and
al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya
( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, "the Islamic Group"; also transliterated El Gama'a El Islamiyya; also called "Islamic Groups" and transliterated Gamaat Islamiya, al Jamaat al Islamiya, is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and ...
, sentenced to death in the 1998
Returnees from Albania
The case of the Returnees from Albania was a massive criminal trial in an Egyptian military court from February to April 1999. The trial is one of the principal sources of information about Sunni terrorist groups in the 1990s, especially al-Gama'a ...
al-Sirri was born in the late 1950s and attended primary school in al-Mansurah from 1967–72, before going to school in
Suez
Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...
for the next ten years. He was arrested in Egypt on accusations of involvement in militant Islamist circles in September 1981. In 1982, he was given a
dishonorable discharge
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...
from the Egyptian military after partaking in demonstrations against the government, and attended the Institute for Social Services in
Port Said
Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...
for the next five years. In 1984, he was jailed for three months for distributing pamphlets attacking Egyptian political leadership.
He eventually began working for ''al-Hidaya al-Islamiyah'' which helped the families of those Islamists arrested by the government.
He moved to Yemen in 1989, and subsequently to Sudan. He traveled to
Peshawar, Pakistan
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
three times, where he volunteered with charitable organisations helping the refugees from the
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
from 1991–1992.
Militant history
He was sentenced to death ''in absentia'' in 1993 or 1994, following the attempted assassination of Egyptian Prime Minister
Atef Sedki
Atef Mohamed Naguib Sedky (29 August 1930 – 25 February 2005) ( ar, عاطف محمد نجيب صدقى, ) was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1986 until 1996. He replaced Aly Mahmoud Lotfy on November 10, 1986.
Biography
Sedky was born ...
which killed a 12-year-old schoolgirl named Shaimaa.Herald Journal, "Airstrike may have killed key militant: 1st reported death", October 19, 2001
Al-Ahram
''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...
political asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...
. He began producing the ''Islamic Media Monitor''. Following the 1997
Luxor massacre
The Luxor massacre was the killing of 62 people, mostly tourists, on 17 November 1997, at Deir el-Bahari, an archaeological site and major tourist attraction across the Nile from Luxor, Egypt.
Attack
Deir el-Bahari is one of Egypt's top touri ...
, Egypt issued a list of fourteen wanted Islamists, including el-Sirri.
On April 29 and October 23, 1999, he received telephone calls from Ahmed Abdel Sattar. He was arrested in October 2001, charged with helping Sattar support
Omar Abdel-Rahman
Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( ar, عمر عبد الرحمن), (ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh", was a blind Egyptians, Egyptian Islamist militant who served a ...
, but the charges were dismissed seven months later.Anderson, Jon Lee. "The Lion's Grave", p. 194
In 2005, he gave statements to the media alleging
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
had rigged the Egyptian elections, and encouraged citizens to boycott the election.
On August 7, 2002, Egypt arrested both al-Sirri's brothers in
Suez
Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...
ghost prisoner
Ghost detainee is a term used in the executive branch of the United States government to designate a person held in a detention center, whose identity has been hidden by keeping them unregistered and therefore anonymous.
In an interview which aired on Al-Hiwar TV on February 2, 2011 (as translated by
MEMRI
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI; officially the "Middle East Media and Research Institute") is a nonprofit press monitoring and analysis organization co-founded by former Israeli military intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and ...