Draft:Hassan Shehata

Hassan Shehata was born into a Sunni Hanafi family, but announced in 1996 AD that he had become Shia. Due to accusations from the Egyptian government during Hosni Mubarak's time, he was imprisoned for three months and again arrested along with more than three hundred Shia scholars on charges of creating insecurity and insulting religions, then released. After his release from prison, he was assassinated by Salafist forces and martyred.

Overview

He was an alumnus of Al-Azhar University and later became one of its professors, converting to Shia Islam at the age of fifty. Due to passionate speeches he delivered in Giza and Cairo, he was recognized as a Shia preacher and leader in Egypt, which caused many followers to gather around him. Although Hassan Shehata's speeches were enlightening and unifying, they played a significant role in the spread of Shiism in Egypt; thus, some Egyptian Salafist groups felt threatened and proceeded to assassinate him. Hassan Shehata was unpleasantly murdered on June 23, 2013, during a ceremony commemorating the Twelfth Imam of the Shiites in Giza province. A group of extremist Salafists claimed responsibility for his murder.

How Hassan Shehata Was Killed

On the evening of the 14th of Sha'ban, 1434, a group of Egyptian Salafists in the village of Abu Muslim, affiliated with Giza province, at the mid-Sha'ban celebration ceremony, first cut off the water to the household and Shiites present there, then raided the house where the family gathering was held. Since they could not find a way in, they destroyed the house wall with sledgehammers and pickaxes and set the house on fire while people were inside, even burning the Quran. With the second floor destroyed and the door broken while his family and relatives were there, Hassan Shehata, his three brothers, and his student were brought out and killed with successive blows. Their bodies were stripped and dragged on the ground in the streets for two hours while chanting slogans: "Kill the Shiites" and "Shiites are infidels." It is said that security forces were observing these scenes. According to the Al-Alam Network news website, about three thousand extremist Salafists besieged the Sheikh's party house on the evening of the 14th of Sha'ban, slaughtered and martyred the Shia scholar Sheikh Hassan Shehata, and martyred two brothers, a brother's son, and one other person along with him. Salafists attacked the host's house in the village of "Zawyet Abu Muslim" in the Pyramids area of "Giza" province, asking people to kill those present. This village is located thirty kilometers from Cairo and has a population of 30,000, of which 150 are Shiites. According to hospital sources, due to the dragging of bodies on the ground and circulating them in the village of "Zawyet Abu Muslim", the identity of one of the mentioned individuals was not identifiable, and Egyptian authorities ordered "DNA" tests to be performed.

Characteristics of the Ceremony at the Scene

Shehata and his companions were guests in the Abu Muslim area, and the raided house belonged to the Sheikh's sister's husband, who was a Shiite and the local prayer leader. It is said this ceremony was arranged on the occasion of the host's daughter's wedding and the guests had private invitations. They were at the lunch table when the attack occurred; however, Sheikh Hassan Shehata was fasting at the time of martyrdom. It is also said that police and security forces had besieged the entire village before the tragedy, but apparently, no action was taken to prevent the terrorists' raid, and the police said we have no order in this regard.

Statistics of Killed and Injured in the Tragedy

In this terrorist tragedy, seven people were certainly killed. 1. Hassan Shehata, 68 years old; 2. Ibrahim Muhammad Shehata, 55 years old, Hassan Shehata's brother; 3. Shehata Muhammad Shehata, 35 years old, Hassan Shehata's other brother; 4. Abd al-Qadir Husnayn Umar, 45 years old; 5. Imran Mansur Imran, 45 years old, Al-Azhar professor and resident of Abu Numrus; 6 & 7. Two women from the household. In this painful attack, some residents of Abu Muslim village were also injured, whose names are listed in reports as follows: 1. Abd al-Munji Muhammad Abd al-Hamid, 37 years old, Al-Azhar professor and resident of Abu Numrus; 2. Sha'ban Muhammad Abd al-Hamid, 40 years old, official Friday preacher of the Endowments Administration; 3. Homeowner and host: Farhat Ali.