Ahmed Yassin
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (Arabic: الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين; June 1936 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, a militant Islamist and Palestinian nationalist organization in the Gaza Strip, in 1987.
Ahmed Yassin | |
|---|---|
أحمد ياسين | |
Yassin in 2004 | |
| Born | June 1936 |
| Died | 22 March 2004 (aged 67) |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Education | Al-Azhar University, Cairo |
| Occupations |
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| Organization | Hamas |
Yassin was born in Ashkelon, in Mandatory Palestine in 1929 or 1936. His family fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestine War to Gaza City. Yassin, a quadriplegic who was nearly blind, had been reliant on a wheelchair due to a sporting accident at the age of 12.
He served as Hamas' spiritual leader after its founding, which is designated a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and other countries. The Israeli government held him responsible for the killing of several Israeli civilians. In 2004, he was killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at him as he was being wheeled from Fajr prayer in Gaza City. The attack, which also killed both of his bodyguards and nine bystanders, was internationally condemned. 200,000 Palestinians attended his funeral procession in Gaza.