Din Dawoud, leader of the Arab nationalist and leftist Nasserite Party. "Egypt wanted to stand out by sending the first Arab ambassador to Iraq, but as long as our policies do not spring from our national and Arab interests, this will be the outcome," he told Reuters. Other leaders made similar remarks. The Sunni Muslim group announced on Wednesday that it would kill Sharif and also warned that other envoys would face the same fate. It has in the past beheaded foreign captives, including two Americans and a Briton. Zarqawi's group is one of the leaders of a bloody insurgency against U.S. forces and the American-backed Iraqi government. Most of the hostages taken by the group have been killed. "Egypt's prisons are full of mujahideen and its courts do not rule by God's law. They have issued sentences against true Muslims, including our Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahri," al Qaeda said, referring to the Egyptian right-hand man of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, wanted by Cairo for anti-government attacks. --SP 2306 Local Time 2006 GMT
