His name resurfaced in the media as a suspect in the assassination of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat in July 2015.[1] He announced in a video that same month the formation of a network named al-Mourabitoun which would remain loyal to al-Qaeda rather than ISIL,[17] to which the latter responded later on by referring to Ashmawy as an "apostate" and issuing a bounty on his life.[3] Ashmawy's al-Mourabitoun based itself in Libya and developed close ties with the local Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna.[18] During the same video announcement, he encouraged Muslims to wage global jihad and denounced Egypt's government and its president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.[5] Ashmawy's tactics differed from those of ISIL.