Docs: Egypt Security Bombed Churches, Resort

Collection of Official Docs Reveals Various Mubarak-Era Crimes

Just days after the Egyptian protesters attacked the state’s internal security headquarters and rescued reems of documents about Mubarak-era crimes that were about to be destroyed, some of the dirtiest such deeds are starting to come to light. And even for the notorious Mubarak regime, they’re surprisingly bad.

Sex tapes, documents detailing broad surveillance of Egyptian dissidents and transcripts of telephone conversations between the dissenters and their family members, sure, but the biggest of what has come out so far reveals something far worse: official government involvement in the Alexandria church bombing and in a 2005 resort bombing.

Its the sort of allegation that would normally seem too extreme to have any credibility, but they’re detailed in official documents as absolute facts. The Sharm al-Sheikh terrorist attacks of July 2005 were blamed on local Bedouins, but the documents instead reveal they were plotted by Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to target a business rival of Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal.

That and the New Years Eve attack on the Coptic Church in Alexandria, which many were already speculating was an inside job (pointing to the lack of government interest in investigating a major attack) both appear to now be confirmed, at least assuming the documents are authentic (and all indications are that they are). The revelations will likely spark another call to move legally against regime leaders for their crimes.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.