Islamic State in Egypt’s Pyramid Module (Jihadi Entity, Egypt)

• Local Name: N/a
• Transliteration: Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Misr – Ahram
• Alternatives: N/a
• Status: 2015 – 2015 (Defeated)
• Conflicts: Egyptian Islamist Militancy

The Islamic State in Egypt’s Pyramid Module [DaIM-A; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Misr – Ahram] was a small Egyptian jihadi entity loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham]. It grew out of an informal group of Islamists that took part in protests against the July 2013 army coup in which president Mohammed Morsi was deposed.¹ They were led by Mohammed Hendawi.² By the middle of 2014, Hendawi and his followers had pledged allegiance to the DaIISh.³ They also came into contact with Hassan Attallah, a senior member of the Islamic State in Egypt’s South Giza Network.⁴

In 2015, Hendawi and his associates set up their own jihadi module. The DaIM-A had approximately 35 members.⁵ Two female medical doctors were among them.⁶ Some of the outfit’s members reportedly trained abroad.⁷

In July 2015, DaIM-A operatives fired at troops guarding the embassy of Niger in Giza, killing one soldier and injuring a colleague.⁸ Following this attack, the group began plotting further operations against police posted at movie theaters and shopping malls.⁹ These plans were thwarted as the authorities arrested most of the DaIM’s key members later that summer. Hendawi and Attallah were among those apprehended.¹⁰ In October 2015, three other DaIM-A operatives were arrested.¹¹ By early 2016, a dozen of the outfit’s members were in custody.¹²

Following several postponements, the trial against the DaIM-A militants began in December 2017.¹³ On Jan. 01, 2018, the court condemned Hendawi to death. Four of his followers were sentenced to life imprisonment, while more than twenty other operatives of the cell were also given prison terms.¹⁴