February 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Egyptian authorities have deported a Sudanese Islamist for suspicion of connections with the Islamic State (ISIS) and the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Hashim Youssef Khalil a leading figure at the Islamic Hizb ut Tahrir (ST Photo)

Hashim Youssef Khalil (42 years old), a leading figure at the Islamic Hizb ut Tahrir in the Wilayah of Sudan was detained at the transit point in Egypt’s southern area of Esna on his way back from Alexandria to Sudan.

According to family members, he spent one week in detention before he was transferred to Luxor where he spent four weeks without being charged, pointing that Egyptian authorities were suspicious that he had links with ISIS or the Muslim Brotherhood.

The same family members told Sudan Tribune that the Egyptian suspicions were raised because they found some papers and documents in his possession, stressing that he has nothing to do with ISIS or the Muslim Brotherhood.

They underscored that Khalil is a member of the Hizb ut Tahrir in the Wilayah of Sudan, saying he suffered psychological and emotional damage as a result of the detention.

Hizb ut Tahrir (liberation party) is an international, pan-Islamic political organisation, which describes its ideology as Islamic, and its aim as the re-establishment of the Islamic Caliphate. The organization was founded in 1953 in Jerusalim.

The family members pointed that Khalil entered Egypt legally after the consulate in Khartoum granted him a visa to visit his relatives in Alexandria, saying the Egyptian authorities handed over his passport to the Sudanese police in Wadi Halfa.

Expert on Islamic Jihadist groups, Al-Hadi Mohamed al-Amin said that Khalil was born in the Sudanese capital neighbourhood of “Khartoum 3”, saying his family lives in the neighbourhood of Al-Fitaihab in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman.

He told Sudan Tribune that Khalil is an active member of the Hizb ut Tahrir in the Wilayah of Sudan, saying he is an Imam (prayer leader) at a mosque in the neighbourhood of Al-Mawrada in Omdurman.

Al-Amin added that the Egyptian authorities searched Khalil’s belongings and found documents holding titles such as the Arab Spring, Politics in Islam and the Starting Point for the Hizb ut-Tahrir, saying that has raised their suspicions and subsequently led to his detention.

Egypt declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group in 2013, when the group’s former leader Mohamed Morsi was overthrown as president by a military coup.

Morsi, along with many Brotherhood leading figures, are currently being tried on multiple terror-related charges.

Also, the Egyptian army has been engaged in a war with the ISIS offshoot, Sinai Province since 2011. The group was initially known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem). It changed its name after it pledged allegiance to ISIS in November 2014.

ISIS infiltration into Sudan among the youths has become known last March after British media outlets confirmed that nine medical students from Sudanese origins entered Syria via Turkey to work in hospitals under the control of ISIS.

Last October, the ministry of interior in Khartoum announced that about 70 Sudanese both males and females have went on to join the ISIS franchises both in Libya and Syria.

(ST)