Egypt sentences alleged al-Qaida member to life

Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced an alleged al-Qaeda bomb-maker with ties to the group’s offshoots in Yemen and Somalia to life in prison.

The public prosecutor said in a statement Wednesday that 28-year-old telecommunications engineer Mahmoud Abdel Aziz was a bomb-maker and communications specialist for the al-Shabab militant group in Kenya and Somalia, and had helped the group communicate with al-Qaida’s Yemen affiliate.

The prosecutor says Abdel Aziz, who went by the nom de guerre “Hakeem al-Masry,” was recruited to al-Qaeda in 2009. The statement said he was arrested in Kenya for being in the country illegally and handed over to Egypt, without specifying when.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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