A lawyer who works with various Islamist groups has predicted that 3000 leading figures of the Jama'a al-Islamyia and Egyptian Islamic Jihad groups will return to Egypt in a few days, as their names have been dropped from the "wanted" list maintained by Egyptian security forces.

"They are coming back from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Kenya, Iran and London," said Ibrahim Ali.

He added that airport security two days ago permitted entry to Sayed Ragab Mohamed, an Islamist group member who had been living abroad for two decades, spending 18 years in the United Arab Emirates and two years in Iran. He said the Jama'a al-Islamyia requested the authorities to drop death sentences that had been issued in absentia by military courts against some of its members so that they could return to Egypt.

Among those waiting to come back are Osama Rushdi, who lives in London, Hussein Shemeis, who was convicted of the assassination attempt on ousted President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa, and Mohamed Shawki al-Islambolly, brother of Khaled al-Islambolly, who assassinated former President Anwar Sadat.