Ayman al-Zawahiri

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Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri
Image:Ayman_al_Zawahiri.jpg
Born June 19, 1951
Maadi, Cairo, Egypt

Dr. Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri (Arabic: أيمن محمد ربيح الظواهري ‎) or closer to the original Arabic spelling and pronounciation al-Zawahri (born June 19, 1951) is a prominent member of al-Qaeda, and was the second and last "emir" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded 'Abbud al-Zummar in the latter role when al-Zummar was jailed for life in Egypt. Al-Zawahiri is a qualified surgeon, and is the author of some al-Qaeda propaganda, including a poem which parodies a well-known Arabic poem[citation needed]. He speaks Arabic, French, and English. Al-Zawahiri is under worldwide embargo by the UN 1267 Committee as a member or affiliate of al-Qaeda.[1]

He uses many aliases, including: Abu Muhammad (Abu Mohammed), Abu Fatima, Muhammad Ibrahim, Abu Abdallah, Abu al-Mu'iz, The Doctor, The Teacher, Nur, Ustaz, Abu Mohammed Nur al-Deen, Abdel Muaz (Abdel Moez, Abdel Muez).

In 1998 he formally merged Egyptian Islamic Jihad into al-Qaeda. According to reports by a former al-Qaeda member, he has worked in the al-Qaeda organization since its inception and was a senior member of the group's shura council. He is often described as a "lieutenant" to the head of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden. It is also assumed that al-Zawahiri serves as bin Laden's doctor.[citation needed] He is allegedly a supporter of Takfir wal-Hijra.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] History

Ayman al-Zawahiri was born to a prominent middle class family in Maadi, Egypt, a suburb of Cairo, and was reportedly a studious youth. His father, Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, was a pharmacologist and a professor coming from a large family of doctors and scholars, while his mother, Umayma Azzam came from a wealthy and politised clan. A bit of a bookworm, he excelled in school, loved poetry and had a deep affection to his mother.[2]

He grew more religious than his relatively secular family, and by fourteen joined an Islamist group called the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin), and had become a student and follower of Sayyid Qutb.[3]

Al-Zawahiri studied behavior, psychology and pharmacology at Cairo University, graduating in 1974 with gayyid giddan, and earning a Masters degree in surgery in 1978.[4] By 1979 he had moved on to the much more radical Islamic Jihad, where he eventually became one of its leading organizers and recruiters. He was one of hundreds arrested following the assassination of Anwar Sadat. Al-Zawahiri's lawyer Montasser el-Zayat contends that Zawahiri was tortured in prison.[5][6] However, the Egyptian government was unable to prove any connection between al-Zawahiri and the assassination and he was released after serving jail time for illegal arms possession.[citation needed]

In the 1980s he journeyed to Afghanistan to participate in the mujahideen resistance against the Soviet Union's occupation. There he met Osama bin Laden, who was running a base for mujahideen called Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK); both of them worked under the tutelage of the Palestinian Abdullah Yusuf Azzam; later when the MAK fractured al-Zawahiri joined bin Laden in organizing the al-Qaeda group.

In 1990 al-Zawahiri returned to Egypt, where he continued to push Islamic Jihad in more radical directions employing knowledge and tactics learned in Afghanistan.

In 1996, he was considered a terrorist who could strike against the USA. A warning issued at the time specified suicide bombing as the likely form of attack.[citation needed] In late 1996 he was detained in Russia for six months by the FSB after he apparently tried to recruit jihadists in Chechnya. According to the FSB spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko, "He had four passports, in four different names and nationalities. We checked him out in every country, but they could not confirm him. We could not keep him forever, so we took him to the Azerbaijani border and let him go." In 1997 he was held responsible for the massacre of 62 foreign tourists in the Egyptian town of Luxor (November 1997 Luxor massacre), for which he was sentenced to death in absentia in 1999 by an Egyptian military tribunal.

On February 23, 1998, he issued a joint fatwa with Osama bin Laden under the title "World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders", an important step in broadening their conflicts to a global scale.

On October 10, 2001 Dr. al-Zawahiri appeared on the initial list of the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President Bush.

In December 2001, he published the book Knights Under the Prophet's Banner outlining al-Qaeda ideology.[7] English translations of this book were published, but are currently difficult to locate due to security reasons. However, extracts are available online.[8] He is also currently working on another book.[citation needed]

Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, al-Zawahiri's whereabouts are unknown, but he is generally thought to be in tribal Pakistan. Although he releases videos of himself frequently, al-Zawahiri has not appeared alongside Osama bin Laden in any of them since 2002.

On December 3, 2001, airstrikes were launched on a complex of caves near Jalalabad. Zawahiri's wife, Azza, and their three children were reportedly killed in the attack.[citation needed]

On January 13, 2006, the CIA launched an airstrike on Damadola, a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, where they believed al-Zawahiri was located. The airstrike was reported to have killed al-Zawahiri and was in international news the following days. Many victims were buried without being identified. Anonymous U.S. government officials claimed that some terrorists were killed and the Bajaur tribal area government confirmed that at least four terrorists were among the dead. Anti-American protests broke out around the country and Pakistan's government condemned the U.S. attack and the loss of innocent life. On January 30th a new video was released showing al-Zawahiri unhurt. The video did discuss the airstrike, but did not reveal if al-Zawahiri was present in the village at that time.

Pakistani intelligence sources[9] confirmed that al-Zawahiri was the target of a Predator missile strike October 30, 2006 on a madrassa in Pakistan.

[edit] Video messages

  • Early September 2003 - A video showing al-Zawahiri and bin Laden walking together, as well as an audiotape, is released to the al-Jazeera network.
  • September 9, 2004 - Another video is released announcing more assaults.
  • August 4, 2005 - He issues a televised statement blaming Tony Blair and his government's foreign policy for the July 2005 London bombings.[10]
  • September 1, 2005 - al-Jazeera broadcasts a video message from Mohammed Sidique Khan, one of bombers of the London metro. His message is followed by another message from al-Zawahiri, blaming again Blair for the bombings.[11]
  • 19 September 2005 - He claims responsibility for the London bombings.[12]
  • December 7, 2005 - The full 40 minute interview from September is posted on the Internet with previously unseen video footage. See below for links.
  • January 6, 2006 - al-Zawahiri says U.S. President Bush's plan to withdraw troops from Iraq means Washington had been defeated in Iraq. al-Zawahiri is quoted as saying, "Bush, you must confess that you have been defeated in Iraq and in Afghanistan and you will be in Palestine soon." al-Zawahiri also conveys his condolences to the people of Pakistan struck by the catastrophic 2005 Kashmir Earthquake.
  • January 30, 2006 - In a video broadcast by al-Jazeera, he mocks Bush and brands him the "Butcher of Washington." The video also proves that he was not killed in a recent Pakistan airstrike. al-Zawahiri promises that the next terrorist attack would be on U.S. soil.[13]
  • April 27, 2006 - al-Zawahiri says in a video that the terror network's branch in Iraq has succeeded in "breaking the back" of the U.S. military with hundreds of suicide bombings.[14]
  • June 9, 2006 - In a video broadcast by al-Jazeera, he praises the work of the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by two 500lbs. bombs in an isolated safehouse in Baquba, Iraq. In the following statements, al-Qaeda still proposes to carry out imminent terrorist attacks including New York and London.
  • June 22, 2006 - al-Zawahiri urged Afghans to fight foreign soldiers in Afghanistan[15]
  • July 7, 2006 - One year after the train bombings in London Ayman al-Zawahiri reveals that two of the suicide bombers were trained by al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
  • July 27, 2006 - al-Zawahiri shows his support for the insurgents in Gaza and South-Lebanon.[16]
  • August 5, 2006 - al-Zawahiri appears in a video in which Muhammad Khalil al-Hukaymah claims that al-Qaeda has joined forces with the long-quiet Egyptian militant group al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, and says that the two groups will form "one line, facing its enemies."[17]
  • September 10, 2006 - A video-interview with al-Zawahiri of over an hour length is published on several internet sites. He makes reference to the situations in Gaza, Lebanon, Somalia and to the historic figure Dr. Brydon.[18] On the fifth anniversary of his terror network's most infamous attacks, al-Zawahiri appears in a video carried by al-Jazeera. The video follows others appearing in the weeks before, but makes specific reference to recent events in Lebanon and the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by militants. Ayman al-Zawahiri warns of new attacks in the Persian Gulf and Israel.[19][20]
  • September 29, 2006 - al-Zawahiri commented in a videomessage on the recent Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy. He called the pope a charlatan, but didn't call for any action.
  • December 20, 2006 - al-Zawahiri speaks out against early elections for the Palestinian Authority.[21]
  • January 5, 2007 - al-Zawahiri showed his support for the Islamic Courts Union after the intervention of Ethiopia in Somalia.
  • January 22, 2007 - al-Zawahiri ridicules Bush's plan to send 20,000 more US Troops into Iraq.[22]

[edit] Wanted in the USA and Egypt

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] Trivia

  • In all of the Al Qaeda video messages that feature Zawahiri, a skin abrasion is clearly visible on his forehead. This is most likely[citation needed] attributable to the intensity of Zawahiri's prayer; most Muslims bow their heads toward the ground many times during their daily prayers, and believers praying especially fervently are known to literally smack their heads against the ground repeatedly as they bow in prayer. On the other hand, his "prayer burn" might be nothing more than a self-inflicted scar for propaganda purposes. He did not have this scar from birth.[26]

[edit] References

  1. ^ UN list of affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Taliban
  2. ^ Lawrence Wright (2006). The looming tower. Knopf, Chapter 2. ISBN 9-375-41486-X. 
  3. ^  The Power of Nightmares. BBC. [begins at 16:27 —] "To Qutb, this force of Jahiliyya had now gone so deep into the minds of Muslims that a dramatic way had to be found to free them. In a series of books he wrote secretly in prison, which were then smuggled out, Qutb called upon a revolutionary vanguard to rise up and overthrow the leaders who had allowed Jahiliyya to infect their country. The implication was that these leaders could justifiably be killed, because they had become so corrupted they were no longer Muslims, even though they said they were. Based on this, Nasser decided to crush Qutb and his ideas. And in 1966, Qutb was put on trial for treason. This is the only known film of Qutb, as he awaits sentence. The verdict was a foregone conclusion, and on August the 29th, 1966, Qutb was executed. But his ideas lived on. The day after his execution, a young schoolboy set up a secret group. He hoped that it would one day become the vanguard that Qutb had called for. His name was Ayman Zawahiri, and Zawahiri was to become the mentor to Usama bin Ladin."
  4. ^ Bergen, Peter L. (2006). The Osama bin Laden I Know. Free Press, p. 66. ISBN 9780743278911. 
  5. ^ "In his book, Al-Zawahiri as I Knew Him, lawyer Muntasir Al-Zayyat maintains that under torture of the Egyptian police, following his arrest in connection with the murder of President Sadat in 1981, Al-Zawahiri revealed the hiding place of Al-Qamari which led to his arrest and eventual execution"
    Raphaeli, Nimrod (Winter 2002). "Ayman Muhammad Rabi' Al-Zawahiri: The Making of an Arch Terrorist". Terrorism and Political Violence 14 (4): 1-22.  Cited in Ayman Muhammad Rabi' Al-Zawahiri. The Jewish Virtual Library (2003-03-11). Retrieved on August 29, 2006.
  6. ^ "Dr Zawahiri had been imprisoned and, according to friends, beaten frequently after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981."
    Bowcott, Owen (2003-01-24). Torture trail to September 11: A two-part investigation into state brutality opens with a look at how the violent interrogation of Islamist extremists hardened their views, helped to create al-Qaida and now, more than ever, is fuelling fundamentalist hatred.. The Guardian. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.
  7. ^ Aboul-Enein, Youssef H. (Jan-Feb 2005). "Ayman Al-Zawahiri's Knights under the Prophet's Banner: the al-Qaeda Manifesto". Military Review. Retrieved on 2006-08-29. 
  8. ^ [http://faculty.msb.edu/murphydd/ibd/MiddleEast-Islam/Zawahiri's%202001%20book%20extracts.htm Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Publishes Extracts from Al-Jihad Leader Al-Zawahiri's New Book] (2001-02-12). Retrieved on August 29, 2006.
  9. ^ http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/10/zawahiri_was_ta.html Blog
  10. ^ Blair Has Brought Destruction to the Center of London and He Will Have More of It
  11. ^ Al-Zawahiri Defends the London Bombings: Even Those Who Did Not Vote for Bush and Blair Accept Them As Legitimate Rulers
  12. ^ Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri Claims Responsibility for the London Bombings, Discusses Elections in Afghanistan and States: "Reform Can Only Take Place through Jihad"
  13. ^ CNN Transcript 30 Jan 2006
  14. ^ Ayman al-Zawahiri "A Message to the People of Pakistan" (2006) As-Sahab media at internet archive
  15. ^ Profile: Ayman al-Zawahiri al-Jazeera
  16. ^ al-Zawahiri urges attacks on Israel al-Jazeera 2006-07-27
  17. ^ al-Zawahiri: Egyptian militant group joins al Qaeda CNN
  18. ^ CNN report10 September 2006
  19. ^ Al-Qaeda issues 9/11 anniversary warning al-Jazeera 2006-09-11
  20. ^ New al-Qaeda warning marks 9/11 BBC 2006-09-11
  21. ^ Al Qaeda's No. 2 speaks out against elections CNN 2006-12-20
  22. ^ Al Qaeda deputy to U.S.: If we are killed, you will be killed CNN 2007-01-22
  23. ^ Copy of indictment USA v. Usama bin Laden et. al., Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies
  24. ^ Wanted poster on al-Zawahiri, Rewards for Justice Program, US Department of State
  25. ^ Wanted poster on al-Zawahiri, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice
  26. ^ Between the Ballot and the Bullet: Egypt's War against Terrorism, World Press Review, 15 November 2001

[edit] See also

[edit] Video

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Zawahiri, Ayman al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abu Muhammad (nickname); Abu Fatima (nickname); Ibrahim, Muhammad (alias); Abu Abdallah (nickname); Deen, Abu Mohammed Nur al- (alias); Abdel Muaz (alias)
SHORT DESCRIPTION terrorist leader
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH none
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