Just in, Sheikh Hazim Abu Ismail, an important figure among Egypt’s Islamists, who bridged between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis — and who was even a former 2012 presidential candidate, before being disqualified — has been arrested.
The report does not indicate why Abu Ismail was arrested. But it is interesting to note that his name — along with President Morsi and other prominent Egyptian Islamists — was mentioned in a recent Libyan report as being involved in the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.
As news was announced that the anti-freedom, Sharia-pushing sheikh had been arrested, Egyptian protesters in front of the presidential palace celebrated by shooting fireworks and chanting “Still more! Still more!” — a reference to other Islamist leaders, namely of the Muslim Brotherhood, that many Egyptian protesters hope to hear are soon returned to their prison cells.
Update: “Still more” pro-Brotherhood Islamists have indeed been arrested. Among the latest batch are: Safwat Hegazy, of “the Brotherhood will rule the world” fame (his name also appeared in connection to the Benghazi consulate attack); Tarek al-Zomor, formerly imprisoned for his role in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat, but released under Morsi; and Khaled Abdullah, an Islamist TV host. All of them are being charged with inciting violence and sectarian strife in Egypt.





Raymond Ibrahim is a Middle East and Islam specialist and author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (2013) and The Al Qaeda Reader (2007). His writings have appeared in a variety of media, including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, Middle East Quarterly, World Almanac of Islamism, and Chronicle of Higher Education; he has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, PBS, Reuters, Al-Jazeera, NPR, Blaze TV, and CBN. Ibrahim regularly speaks publicly, briefs governmental agencies, provides expert testimony for Islam-related lawsuits, and testifies before Congress. He is a Shillman Fellow, David Horowitz Freedom Center; a CBN News contributor; a Media Fellow, Hoover Institution (2013); and a Judith Friedman Rosen Writing Fellow, Middle East Forum . Ibrahim’s dual-background -- born and raised in the U.S. by Coptic Egyptian parents born and raised in the Middle East -- has provided him with unique advantages, from equal fluency in English and Arabic, to an equal understanding of the Western and Middle Eastern mindsets, positioning him to explain the latter to the former.