A Facebook page supporting Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak made a satirical post aimed at President Mohamed Morsy late on Monday regarding an Egyptian court's decision to release an Islamist accused of a failed assassination attempt on the former president in the 1990s.
The Facebook page, "I am sorry, Mr. President," featured a post titled, “Mr. Morsy, may I assassinate you?" in which it expressed frustration at the release of former Jama’a al-Islamiya leader Mostafa Hamza's release, asking the president, "What would you feel if someone accused of attempting to kill you was released?"
“I want to assassinate Mohamed Morsy, I declare it with no fear,” the post said. "I might convene with other 'militias' in this page in Tora Bora, get training by Hamas in Gaza, and receive funding and arms from the US to assassinate you. We might kill you while attending a conference or a summit, even [during] your prayer," said the post.
"I want to assassinate Morsy, and I might be released when a new president succeeds him and become a hero. Maybe then I can become a presidential adviser and a celebrity."
The state-run news agency MENA reported Monday that the Giza Criminal Court had released Hamza, who was being retried on charges of plotting Mubarak's assassination during a visit to Ethiopia in 1995. Hamza had been sentenced to death in absentia in 1992 by a military court on another charge, but the court's verdict was appealed and a retrial was ordered.
Egyptian reports, meanwhile, say Hamza is also facing a death sentence in another attempt to assassinate former Shura Council speaker Safwat al-Sharif, as well as involvement in the bombing of a church in Beni Suef and affiliation with a terrorist group.
The transitional period and Mohamed Morsy’s presidency have seen the release of several Islamist leaders, particularly those who had been involved in a bloody conflict with the Mubarak regime before abandoning violence years ago.
