Ayman al-Zawahiri

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Ayman al-Zawahiri bigraphy, stories - deputy leader of Al Qaeda

Ayman al-Zawahiri : biography

June 19, 1951 – living

Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahirial-Zawahiri is also sometimes transliterated al-Dhawahiri to reflect normative classical Arabic pronunciation beginning with . The Egyptian Arabic pronunciation is ; approximately: Ayman Mahammad Rabi Elzawahri. (‘, born 19 June 1951) is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda. Ayman al-Zawahiri is a former member of Islamist organizations which have both orchestrated and carried out multiple attacks on the continents of North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The U.S. State Department has offered a US$25 million dollar reward for information leading to al-Zawahiri’s apprehension since the 9/11 attacks and remains in effect. He is under worldwide sanctions by the United Nations Security Council 1267 Committee as a member or affiliate of al-Qaeda.

Affiliations

  • Muslim Brotherhood at age 14
  • Last Emir of Egyptian Islamic Jihad
  • Cairo University Alumni
  • Taliban
  • Red Crescent Movement

Militant activity

Assassination Plots

Egypt

In 1981, Al-Zawahiri was one of hundreds arrested following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Initially, the plan was derailed when authorities were alerted to Al-Jihad’s plan by the arrest of an operative carrying crucial information, in February 1981. President Sadat ordered the roundup of more than 1500 people, including many Al-Jihad members, but missed a cell in the military led by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli, who succeeded in assassinating Sadat during a military parade that October.Wright, p. 50. His lawyer, Montasser el-Zayat, said that Zawahiri was tortured in prison.Dr Zawahiri had been imprisoned and, according to friends, beaten frequently after the assassination."

In his book, Al-Zawahiri as I Knew Him, Al-Zayat maintains that under torture by the Egyptian police, following his arrest in connection with the murder of Sadat in 1981, Al-Zawahiri revealed the hiding place of Essam al-Qamari, a key member of the Maadi cell of al-Jihad, which led to Al-Qamari’s "arrest and eventual execution."

Cited in

In 1993, al-Zawahiri and EIJ’s connection with Iran may have been the use of suicide bombing in an attempt on the life of Egyptian Interior Minister Hasan al-Alfi, the man heading the effort to quash the campaign of Islamist killings in Egypt. It failed, as did an attempt to assassinate Egyptian prime minister Atef Sidqi three months later. The bombing of Sidqi’s car injured 21 Egyptians and killed a young schoolgirl, Shayma Abdel-Halim. It followed two years of killings by another Islamist group, al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, that had killed over 200 people. Her funeral became a public spectacle, with her coffin carried through the streets of Cairo and crowds shouting, "Terrorism is the enemy of God!"Wright, p. 186. The police arrested 280 more of al-Jihad’s members, and executed six.

Pakistan

The 1995 attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan was the Egyptian Islamic Jihad’s first success under Zawahiri’s leadership, but Bin Laden had disapproved of the operation. The bombing alienated Pakistan, which was "the best route into Afghanistan."Wright, Looming Towers, 2006, p. 217.

In July 2007, Al-Zawahiri supplied direction for the Lal Masjid siege, codename Operation Silence. This was the first time to be confirmed that Al-Zawahiri was taking militant steps against the Pakistan Government, and guiding Islamic militants against the State of Pakistan. The Pakistan Army troops and Special Service Group taking control of the Red Mosque in Islamabad found letters from al-Zawahiri directing Islamic militants Abdul Rashid Ghazi and Abdul Aziz Ghazi, who ran the mosque and adjacent madrasah. This conflict resulted in 100 deaths.

On December 27, 2007, al-Zawahiri was also implicated in the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.