Issam Abdel-Tawab Abdel Alim (عصام عبدالتواب عبدالعليم) was a member of
al-Jihad convicted in Egypt's
Returnees from Albania
The case of the Returnees from Albania was a massive criminal trial in an Egyptian military court from February to April 1999. The trial is one of the principal sources of information about Sunni terrorist groups in the 1990s, especially al-Gama'a ...
case. He was the only member extradited from
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
, following his capture by the
CIA in
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
in July 1998.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
, "Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub", February 22, 2008. He was one of 14 people subjected to
extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had the purpos ...
by the
CIA prior to the 2001 declaration of a
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
.
During his interrogations, he alleged he was frequently tortured; his genitals were repeatedly electrocuted and his right arm incapacitated after being the subject of a "sharpening tool".
[Hafez Abu-Saada, "Compiled complaints of Ahmed Osman Saleh, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Naggar, Shawki Salama Attiya, Essam Abdel Tawwab, and Mohamed Hassan Tita", legal document produced by lawyer, 1998]
At trial, he described how the group began training its recruits in Yemen in 1990, where they were schooled in
Sharia, political history of militant Islamic movements, surveillance techniques and document forgery. He also noted that he had met
Muhammad al-Zawahiri in the country.
Held
incommunicado from his arrest on July 13 until September 12, he was sentenced to either 10 or 15 years' imprisonment.
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
The Fate of Islamists Rendered to Egypt
/ref>
References
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
Egyptian torture victims
Living people
People extradited to Egypt
People extradited from Bulgaria
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{Terrorism-bio-stub