APPREHENDED
- Full name: Nabil Mohammed Abdel Moneim el-Shahat
- Pseudonym: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Egypt
- Affiliation: fmr Nassr City Cell [NCC]
Nabil el-Shahat is an Egyptian Islamist who turned to religion in the late 1990s.1 In 2005, he and companion Karim al-Bedawi made an unsuccessful attempt to join the jihadis fighting against American and allied forces in Iraq.2 The authorities arrested him in 2007 for providing financial support to Islamist militants.3
Following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Shahat was freed by the interim military authorities.4 Still committed to jihad, he wanted to go fight in Syria following his release.5 Shahat got in touch with associates of the al-Qa’ida-linked Nassr City Cell [NCC] as he searched for ways to reach the county. Shahat abandoned his plans to go to Syria and joined the NCC instead. He participated in meetings in where the module’s plots were discussed.6 In early 2012, Shahat helped procure firearms and chemicals to make explosives from Libya.7 During that same period, he was reportedly approached by a representative of the Morsi government to see if he could help negotiate with terrorists holed up in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula.8
Shahat was arrested as the Egyptian authorities rolled up the NCC in late 2012.9 He was later sentenced to life imprisonment by a court on Oct. 22, 2014.10
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