Hisham Abu Sa’ad (Jihadi Militant, Egypt)

• Full name: Hisham Faraj Abdelsayid Mohammed Abu Sa’ad
• Pseudonym: N/a
• Alternatives: Hisham Faraj
• Location: unknown
• Affiliation: fmr Mansoura Jihad Cells [MJC]

Hisham Abu Sa’ad (°ca 1969) is an Islamist from Egypt’s Dakahliya governorate. The former social worker at the Azhar University turned into a Salafi preacher in 1994.¹) Over the years, Abu Sa’ad attracted a sizeable following in his native village of Khayariya where he instructed worshippers in the teachings of Sayid Qutb and other Salafi theologists at the local mosque and seminary.² In 2004, Abu Sa’ad, his longtime deputy Mohammed Ramadan and several associates set up the informal Mansoura Jihad Cells [MJC] to help fund Islamist militants active in Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip.³ Before long, the outfit turned their attention to the perceived enemies of Islam in Egypt.

Abu Sa’ad served as the MJC’s spiritual leader and oversaw ideological instruction and physical training of its members.⁴ He was also involved in raising funds for the MJC.⁵ Although Abu Sa’ad gave guidance to the outfit, he left the management of the group to his deputy Ramadan.⁶

Police arrested Abu Sa’ad in October 2009 as the Egyptian authorities rolled up the MJC.⁷ He spent more than a year in prison, before the interim military authorities freed him and his companions from prison in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.⁸ The release came after supporters had put pressure on the authorities with protests.⁹ Prosecutors restarted proceedings against the MJC in 2013. Abu Sa’ad had by then either fled the country or go into hiding. He and 25 other MJC operatives were nevertheless tried in absentia and eventually sentenced to death in March 2014.¹⁰ Abu Sa’ad remains at large.