- Local Name: N/a
- Transliteration: Ansar al-Shari’a fi-Ard al-Kinana
- Alternatives: N/a
- Status: 2013 – 2014 (Defeated)
- Conflicts: Egyptian Islamist Militancy
The Partisans of Shari’a in the Land of Egypt [ASAK; Ansar al-Shari’a fi-Ard al-Kinana] was an Egyptian jihadi outfit that operated in the wake of the 2013 army coup. Its goal was to exact revenge on the Egyptian security forces for the clampdown on Islamists in the country.1 The ASAK was based in the Sharqiya governorate, but also had cells in Beni Suef and Giza.2 The group furthermore maintained a safehouse near Samalut.3 The ASAK consisted of about two dozen members. Some of these elements traveled to Syria for training and combat experience.4
The ASAK unleashed a short, but intense wave of attacks against policemen in the Sharqiya, Beni Suef and Giza governorates in early 2014. At least eleven police officers were killed during the group’s campaign.5
Historical Overview
The ASAK emerged from the followers of Zagazig-based Takfiri preacher Madin Hassaneen. Several of these men formed a close-knit group since 2007.6 Sayed Morsi was the most prominent of these individuals. The Egyptian government grew concerned by their radicalism and several of the men were arrested in 2007.7 They were only released after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Following the fall of the Mubarak regime, Morsi and his associates became involved in Islamist activism. They gradually came to believe that jihad was the only way to achieve their goal of setting up an Islamic state in Egypt.8 The group also began to sympathize with Islamist militants operating in the country.9
Morsi and his acquaintances took part in the massive sit-in protests by Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the army’s removal of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. During the demonstrations, they developed ties to Salafists from other parts of Egypt. After the dispersal of the protesters in August 2013, Morsi and his associates wanted to avenge the bloody crackdown.10 They initially sought to join the Partisans of the Holy House [ABaM; Ansar Bait al-Maqdis].11 Senior ABaM operative Mohammed Rahim advised them to establish a new group however.12 The goals of Morsi and his men differed too much from those of the ABaM. They desired the return of the Muslim Brotherhood to power and were solely interested in Egyptian affairs.13 Morsi and his companions recruited members among the Islamists they had encountered at the protests.14 They also sought to attract members among the supporters of former Islamist presidential candidate Hazem Abu Ismail.15 At one point, a group of half a dozen Islamists from the Beni Suef governorate linked up with the ASAK.16 A group of Islamists from Giza also pledged allegiance to Morsi.17 By late 2013, the ASAK had more than twenty members and actively prepared them for action.18 The group also acquired several safehouses.19
The ASAK launched its first attack on Jan. 24, 2014, when operatives shot and injured a policeman guarding a station in Husseiniya.20 Five days later, the members of the outfit shot and killed a police officer as he was returning home from work in Hehiya.21 In early February, ASAK militants killed four policemen in separate attacks in the Sharqiya governorate.22 On Feb. 20, the group carried out two other attacks against the police in Zagazig in which one officer was killed and five other people were injured.23 By the end of the month, Rahman traveled to the Beni Suef governorate and linked up with the ASAK’s local branch. On Mar. 01, ASAK militants shot and critically injured a policeman in the city of Beni Suef.24 Over the next day, the group killed several police officers in a series of attacks across the governorate.25 The authorities tried to hide the incidents by claiming that the policemen had died in traffic accidents.26 At the same time, Rahman activated the ASAK cell in Giza. On Mar. 03, gunmen belonging to the group fired at policemen in Abu Nomros, killing one officer and injuring two colleagues.27 Another policeman was shot and injured in a separate attack that same day.
Following the wave of attacks south of Cairo, Rahman returned to Sharqiya to continue operations there. On Mar. 09, 2014, he was however shot and killed as policemen returned fire during a failed attack on officers in Zagazig.28 The death of the prolific commander was a fatal blow to the ASAK. Most key members of the group immediately fled to Greater Cairo where they linked up with the Reinforcements of Egypt [AM; Ajnad Misr].29 On Mar. 17, the ASAK issued a statement in which it asserted responsibility for the group’s attacks and acknowledged Rahman’s killing.30 Most of the group’s operatives, including those who had joined the AM, were rounded up in the following weeks. On Apr. 10, 2014, the leader of the Beni Suef cell Saïd Azim was killed in a police case in the Fayoum governorate.31 Two ASAK members were killed when security forces raided their hideout near Samalut, in the Minya governorate, on May 06, 2014.32
The trial against more than twenty ASAK members began in March 2015.33 Proceedings lasted more than three years. The defendants were often unruly. In 2016, judges handed out prison sentences against several of those on trial for having insulted the judiciary.34 On Aug. 12, 2018, the court gave the death penalty to three ASAK members, including Sayed Morsi. Other defendants were ordered to prison for terms ranging from fifteen years to life.35 The rulings were confirmed in October 2018.36
External Linkages
The ASAK was linked to the ABaM through its leaders’ connections to Mohammed Rahim. Rahim apparently provided guidance to the outfit and is said to have helped craft the group’s two statements.37 The ASAK was also closely tied to Hammam Attiya’s Greater Cairo-based AM. Leaders of the two group reportedly held meetings.38 The AM took in several ASAK operatives after the entity collapsed following the death of Rahman in March 2014.39 One of these elements was the first AM member to be caught following a failed attack in April 2014.40
References