Egyptian uprising enables jailed Hamas militant to escape

[CHIMO]

Source: guardian.co.uk

In a small cell in Egypt's al-Marj prison, the BBC World Service brought encouraging news to Ayman Nofel. The senior Hamas commander from Gaza had just passed the third anniversary of his imprisonment on unspecified charges.

The voice coming from his radio told him that prisoners at another Egyptian jail had been freed amid the chaotic uprising sweeping the country. He saw his chance and wasted no time.

"I shouted to other prisoners to break down the doors and gates," said Nofel, who described himself as the only political prisoner among al-Marj's criminal population. Using smuggled mobile phones to mobilise locals to storm the prison gates, Nofel and his fellow-prisoners fought their way outside the walls and to freedom.

In an unintended consequence of the Egyptian people's revolt against decades of repression and economic misery, the Hamas militant accused of planning bomb attacks against Israel found himself at the centre of a hero's welcome in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/07/egypt-protest-hamas-militant-escapes

[davidinalameda]

1. just what the world needs

another terrorist running loose

[Posteritatis]

2. Nice, breaking the story only most of a week after al-Jazeera discussed it.. (nt)