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Egypt's chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat killed by Cairo bomb Egypt's chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat killed by Cairo bomb
(about 1 hour later)
One of the architects of Egypt’s crackdown on dissent was killed by a car bomb on Monday after militants targeted his convoy in what was the country’s highest-profile assassination in nearly two years. One of the architects of Egypt’s crackdown on dissent was killed in a car bomb on Monday, as the country’s insurgency claimed its highest-profile victim yet.
Egypt’s chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was taken to hospital on Monday after the car bomb exploded as he passed an army college in a well-to-do suburb of north-eastern Cairo. State television later reported he had died. Egypt’s chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was killed after the car bomb ripped through his convoy as it passed through a well-to-do suburb of north-eastern Cairo. Six of Barakat’s bodyguards were wounded, as well as two drivers and a passerby, Egypt’s health ministry told the Guardian.
Two of Barakat’s bodyguards were wounded, as well as a passerby. Photographs from the incident showed plumes of black smoke rising from a layby filled with parked cars. Hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been killed in a low-level insurgency that has raged since the overthrow of ex-president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. But Barakat is the first major government figure to be targeted since a failed attempt to kill former interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, in September 2013.
Mohamed Gamal, the chief of the bomb squad, told Agence France-Presse it was either a car bomb or a bomb concealed underneath a vehicle. The bombing came after the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Egypt called for attacks on the judiciary following the hanging of six alleged militants. Amateur footage of the moments after the bomb shows passersby attempting to help a stricken Barakat, whose face and stomach were covered with blood. Several nearby vehicles were blown into the air by the explosion, witnesses said, while television footage showed that the windows in the surrounding buildings had been smashed.
Hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been killed in a low-level insurgency that has raged since the overthrow of ex-president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. But Barakat is the first major government figure to be targeted since a failed attempt to kill the former interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, in September 2013. One unnamed local resident told a private television station, CBC, in a live interview: “I thought it was an earthquake. The stairs were damaged, the elevator was damaged. Even though the door was shut, it opened.”
That attack was carried out by a Sinai-based jihadi movement that later declared allegiance to Isis, whereas Monday’s bomb was attributed to a less active Cairo-based group called Giza Popular Resistance, after the group claimed responsibility on its Facebook page. The claim could not be confirmed. Another told the channel: “We feel like we’re living in a time of war – like we can’t take our kids out. We thought everything was supposed to be safe now.”
The government said it was braced for follow-up attacks. Ambassador Hossam Qawish, a state official, told an interviewer: “There could still be armed people around, and the bigger issue is that no one has been caught.”
The timing of Monday’s attack has added symbolism, since it comes one day short of the second anniversary of protests that both hastened the fall of Morsi, and then brought Barakat to office. Many Egyptians support the direction Barakat subsequently took.The timing of Monday’s attack has added symbolism, since it comes one day short of the second anniversary of protests that both hastened the fall of Morsi, and then brought Barakat to office. Many Egyptians support the direction Barakat subsequently took.
But he was a figure of hate for Egypt’s opposition because he has, as chief prosecutor, enabled the detention of tens of thousands of government critics. Among the many controversial prosecutions Barakat has pursued, several have resulted in death sentences for hundreds of alleged supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Rights campaigners also accused Barakat of bowing to police pressure to prolong the pre-trial detention of dissidents, even when there is little evidence.But he was a figure of hate for Egypt’s opposition because he has, as chief prosecutor, enabled the detention of tens of thousands of government critics. Among the many controversial prosecutions Barakat has pursued, several have resulted in death sentences for hundreds of alleged supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Rights campaigners also accused Barakat of bowing to police pressure to prolong the pre-trial detention of dissidents, even when there is little evidence.
Egyptian officials strenuously deny there is any executive interference with Egypt’s judicial system.
Following Barakat’s death, the Egyptian foreign ministry released a statement linking the attack to a wider wave of global terrorism, and called on world leaders – often critical of Egypt’s human rights record – to give the Egyptian government more support.
“Once again the international community needs to face up to a serious terrorist threat facing the world,” the ministry said, “to unite and work together to eliminate this scourge, and confront the extremist ideology that unites all the different denominations of terrorist organisations.”
In the aftermath of the attack, activists braced themselves for an expansion of the state crackdown on dissent, with the government expected to use Barakat’s death as an excuse to hasten its eradication of political opposition.
The Egyptian blogger, Zeinobia, argued that the attack “will generate more anger and we will have more vengeful actions from the regime, which already did not waste any time in the past [in terms of increasing] oppression and fighting freedoms in the name of counter-terrorism.”