Egypt frees brother of al-Zawahiri

Egypt freed Mohammed al-Zawahiri, brother of al Qaeda number two Ayman, on Thursday under an amnesty for political prisoners ordered by the transitional military government, security officials said. The brother had been in jail since 1999 when he was transferred into Egyptian custody by the United Arab Emirates after his arrest there.
An Egyptian court handed down a death sentence against Mohammed al-Zawahiri in his absence in 1998 on charges of undergoing military training in Albania and "planning military operations" in Egypt, the security officials said. He is among dozens of political prisoners who have been released by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces since it took over when veteran president Hosni Mubarak was forced from office on February 11 by a wave of mass protests.