AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Ahram
Saturday

19 October 2013

8:30:00 PM
473952

Egypt Security Forces Arrest Suspect in Martyring of Shia Leader

Another accused in the brutal killing of Hassan Shehata and three other members of the Shia community last June is arrested

One of the suspects accused of killing Shia leader Hassan Shehata and three other members of the Shia community was arrested on Sunday reported Ahram's Arabic website.

Last June, an angry mob led by Salafist sheikhs torched and attacked Shia residences in the small village of Zawyat Abu Musalam in Giza governorate, killing four citizens, including a prominent Shia figure.

Shehata was visiting one of the families in the village when the attack happened.

Video footage circulated online showing one of the victims being beaten and dragged through the streets.

Eyewitness accounts say several members of the Shia community were stabbed multiple times in a brutal form of public lynching.

Five others have already been arrested for their alleged involvement in the mob attack earlier in June.

There is no official record of the number of Shia Muslims in Egypt, but analysts believe the number of believers to be between 500,000 and one million.

The number of Shia Egyptians remains a point of contention. Some Shia activists claim the number exceeds eight million, whilst Salafist groups say there are only a few thousand.

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