Azhar Sheikh Urges ‘Punishment’ For Yassin Murderers

CAIRO, March 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Egypt's Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohammad Sayed Tantawi on Sunday, March 22, strongly condemned Israel’s killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, calling for ‘punishment’ for those who committed this crime.

The assassination of Sheikh Yassin and his companions is a despicable crime that shook the entire world, Tantawi said.

“This is a heinous crime that must not go without punishment,” Tantawi told reporters in his first statement regarding the assassination.

“It is a horrible crime that has shocked the whole international community,” he said adding that the assassins did not take into consideration the fact that Sheikh Yassin was an old and paralyzed man.

He also urged both the Arab and Muslim worlds and the entire humanity to punish those who perpetrated this heinous crime.

From his part, Egypt’s Grand Mufti, Ali Goma, also condemned the assassination of Hamas spiritual leader.

Goma said in press statement that it is “not a strange thing that the Israeli occupation forces, who stole the Palestinian land and is continuously challenging international legitimacy and law, commits such a crime”.

He praised Sheikh Yassin history of resistance, stressing that “Yassin does not need our prayers because he died as a martyr”.

Goma also called on all Muslims to “follow up the steps of Sheikh Yassin, fight for the cause he died for and consider him a role model of real strong will in constant search for justice and peace”.

Israel’s assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on his way back home after the dawn prayers on Monday, March 22, has drown an international outcry. Students in Egypt urge revenge for Israeli killing of Yassin.

The 67-year-old wheelchair-bound Yassin - a long-time struggler against Israeli occupation - was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in Gaza City, prompting a declaration of an all-out war against Israel from all Palestinian resistance groups.

This comes as hundreds of students at Cairo universities called for revenge after Israelis killed Yassin on Monday in a dawn air strike.

"The Jews have killed Yassin, where is the response of the Muslims?" students at Al-Azhar University chanted. "Sharon, coward, Yassin's blood is not worthless," they warned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The demonstrators urged the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, to avenge the targeted killing of the founder of the Palestinian resistance movement.

More demonstrations were planned after midday Muslim prayers in Helwan University in the Egyptian capital and at Alexandria University in the north of the country.

Source: Islam-Online.net