Their Hands Stained with Egyptian Blood: Who Are the Muslim Brotherhood Figures Yahya Moussa and Alaa al-Samahi?
Egypt’s security services have dealt a significant blow to the Muslim Brotherhood by foiling a terrorist plot orchestrated by the group’s armed wing, HASM. In an official statement, the Ministry of Interior disclosed the names of those involved in the plan, most notably the fugitives Yahya Moussa and Alaa al-Samahi—both sentenced in absentia for their involvement in several deadly attacks.
Who is Yahya Moussa?
Yahya Moussa is a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, widely accused of being involved in terrorist operations targeting Egyptian civilians, police officers, army personnel, and judicial figures following the ousting of the Brotherhood’s regime in June 2013.
A trained physician, Moussa taught at the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Azhar University. In November 2012, he joined the Ministry of Health under the Brotherhood-led government and was appointed ministry spokesperson in February 2013.
Following the Brotherhood’s fall from power, he founded the militant group HASM and recruited radicalized Brotherhood members into its ranks. He is accused of masterminding the assassination of Egypt’s former Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat, the attempted assassinations of former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and Alexandria’s security chief General Mostafa al-Nemr, and the bombing of Cairo’s Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church.
He fled to Turkey after the 2013 revolution and is currently wanted by Interpol at Egypt’s request. He has received several sentences, including the death penalty and long-term imprisonment.
In 2020, he was added to Egypt’s national terrorism list, and in 2021, the U.S. Department of State designated him as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”
Who is Alaa al-Samahi?
Born in 1986 in the Gharbia Governorate (northern Egypt), Alaa al-Samahi was a schoolteacher and a prominent activist within the Brotherhood. He participated in the Rabaa sit-in, during which he is believed to have helped plan several violent acts.
Al-Samahi co-founded HASM and headed the Brotherhood’s so-called “armed movement,” orchestrating internal operations after the regime’s collapse. He oversaw operational committees responsible for carrying out attacks throughout Egypt.
Now a fugitive in Turkey, al-Samahi is among the most dangerous Brotherhood operatives. He is on the terrorism watchlists of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and the United States, which designated him in 2021 as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”
Following the dispersal of the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins, he fled to Turkey, where he directed and financed terrorist groups including HASM and Liwa al-Thawra, using them as fronts to claim responsibility for operations conducted by the Brotherhood.
He is implicated in several major terrorist plots, including the attempted assassination of Deputy Prosecutor General Zakaria Abdel Aziz, the attack on Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, and a deadly police checkpoint assault in Menoufiya. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment in multiple cases.
