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Following are excerpts from an interview with Camelia Sadat, daughter of assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, and Nageh Ibrahim, a leader of Al-Jam'a Al-Islamiyya. The interview aired on LTB TV on October 8, 2011.
Interviewer: I would like you to address Dr. Camelia [Sadat], because this is the first meeting between an Al-Jam'a Al-Islamiyya [member], and a member of President Al-Sadat's family.
Nageh Ibrahim: I did President Sadat justice in several articles and interviews. Justice should characterize all people, and the Islamists in particular. President Sadat's merits outweighed his mistakes. His mistakes were not intentional and did not constitute a betrayal of the nation or of Egypt.
The Sadat family deserves an apology from all the people who were involved. I did President Sadat justice on many occasions, and so did Sheik Karam [Zuhdi]. We did not do so as an act of ingratiation, but out of conviction, because he is dead and…
Interviewer: …and he can't defend himself.
Nageh Ibrahim: Exactly. We consider it to be our duty before Allah.
Interviewer: Do you have any problem with apologizing to Camelia for the murder of Sadat?
Nageh Ibrahim: I would like to tell you that Sadat, as well as his killers, stand before Allah, the Just, the Judge. They did what they did out of patriotic intentions. They did not seek material gains, and they did not hate Sadat personally. They did not act out of any worldly desire.
They sacrificed their youth as well as their material life, because they believed that President Sadat was wrong to sign the Camp David Accord, and was wrong in conducting widespread detentions [of Islamists], which they considered to be a repetition of what happened in 1954 – they thought that President Sadat would massacre the Islamists, just like Abd Al-Nasser massacred the Islamists. But the truth is that after we were imprisoned, we realized that President Sadat intended to release, on January 25, all those who had been arrested. If he had made this clear… President Sadat escalated matters in his speeches…
Interviewer: So today, you consider President Sadat's [assassination] to have been a mistake?
Nageh Ibrahim: That's right. It's not just my opinion. It's a fact. I reiterated this, time and again. I'm not saying this because Dr. Camelia is here. I've said this in the past. People deserve to be treated with justice – whether they are in office or not, whether they are dead or alive, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. This is an Islamic duty incumbent upon us. The killing of President Sadat was wrong from the Islamic and legal perspective, and has nothing to do with Islam. But I would like to say that his killers are honorable people, young people who sacrificed themselves and took nothing from this world.
[…]
Interviewer: You are one of the heads of the family of the late President Sadat. Do you forgive them? Do you accept Dr. Nageh's apology?
Camelia Sadat: In the 30 years that have passed, I've undergone various phases in my life in order to arrive at this phase of forgiveness. Everything you said went straight into my heart.
Nageh Ibrahim: May Allah bless you.
Interviewer: Dr. Camelia, I know that… We are going to do something… Let's embarrass Dr. Nageh, what do you say?
Camelia Sadat: What can I say…
Interviewer: Is it okay to embarrass you, Dr. Nageh?
Nageh Ibrahim: Why embarrass people?
Interviewer: Just a minor embarrassment. Dr. Camelia is extremely tolerant. I am aware that you don't shake hands with women, but right now, we are not considering Dr. Camelia as a female. At the end of the day, this is a brotherly, human handshake.
Nageh Ibrahim: I will shake her hand.
Interviewer: Will you be willing to shake his hand?
Nageh Ibrahim: It would be an honor for me.
Camelia Sadat: It will not be Dr. Nageh who will extend his hand to me. I will extend my hand to him.
Nageh Ibrahim: It is an honor for me, an honor.
Camelia Sadat and Nageh Ibrahim get up and shake hands
Camelia Sadat: I do so with full appreciation and esteem, because we are Muslims, and admitting the truth is a virtue.
Nageh Ibrahim: When you greeted me outside the studio, I could feel the presence of President Sadat.
[…]