Hani al-Sibai

Hani al-Sibai (or al-Siba'i) ( _ar. هاني السباعي), also known as Hani Mohammed Yusuf al-Siba'i (هاني محمد يوسف السباعي)and Hani al-Said al-Siba'i Yusuf (هاني السيد السباعي يوسف)is an Islamist Egyptian Sunni scholar and lawyer who lives in London with the status of a political refugee.

As a lawyer in Egypt, he was a defense attorney.

It was his defence of Islamists, that got him into trouble with the Egyptian government. Egypt proved in court he was one of the fourteen members of the "shura" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Egyptian authorities convicted him "in absentia" in the case of the Returnees from Albania and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment. In response, he fled to the West and specifically London. In September 2005, he was one of seven Egyptians whose names were added to the UN 1267 Committee's list of banned individuals. [http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/1267/tablelist.htm UN list of affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Taliban] ] A few days later he was added to the list of Specially Designated Nationals maintained by the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, as a supporter of al-Qaeda or an allied group. [http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/sdnlist.txt US Treasury banned entity list] ]

Al-Sibai is sometimes referred to as "Doctor" or "Shaykh Doctor" Hani al-Sibai, on the strength of a doctorate in "comparative criminal jurisprudence" (Sharia Law) [ [http://hani.phpnet.us/manager.html CV at al-Sibai's website, in Arabic] ] , though his degree is unverifiable. On the same grounds, he is therefore described as a former lawyer. He is the founder and director [http://www.almaqreze.net Almaqreze Centre] website (Arabic)] of the Almaqreze Centre for Historical Studies (مركز المقريزي للدراسات التاريخية) in London.

He has appeared on many Arab TV Stations including al-Jazeera and wrote a rebuttal to Pope Benedict XVI's [http://www.almaqreze.net/articles/artcl051.html Pope Benedict XVI] ] comments about Islam. Al-Sibai appeared on Al-Jazeera on 8 July, 2005 to explain and support Al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks in New York. [ [http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/748.htm Clip ] ]

References

Persondata
NAME=Sibai, Hani al-
DATE OF BIRTH=March 1 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH=Qaylubiyah, Egypt
DATE OF DEATH= N/A
PLACE OF DEATH= N/A