An Egyptian criminal court acquitted on Monday Mostafa Hamza, a senior figure in Islamist group Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, of charges of joining a restricted group that aimed to overthrow the regime, as well as taking part in planning the failed assassination attempt against ousted president Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995.
Hamza received a death sentence for the charges prior to the 25 January uprising, but successfully appealed for a retrial.
Many of the group's members were released from arbitrary detention following the 25 January uprising.
Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya carried out several domestic militant attacks in the 1980s and the 1990s, but renounced violence in the late 1990s.
The group formed the Building and Development Party after the 2011 uprising to serve as its political arm.
