Montasser el-Zayat
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Montasser el-Zayat or Muntasir al-Zayyat (Arabic: منتصر الزيات ) is an Egyptian lawyer whose former clients, according to press reports, included Ayman al-Zawahiri and al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya[1]. He has written a book entitled Ayman al-Zawahiri as I Knew Him[2]. Al-Zawahiri, in turn, has spoken about el-Zayat's character[3]. The two shared a prison cell in the 1980s. The Washington Post reported[3] that el-Zayat has said of al-Zawahiri, "He always thinks he is right, even if he is alone."
Following the assassination of Anwar Sadat el-Zayat was imprisoned, along with many other Egyptians, who were believed to be members of Islamic Jihad[4]. El-Zayat was jailed for three years.
On December 1, 2002 the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that el-Zayat "accused the United States of 'invading the region and imposing its policies — it wants to interfere with our life, and it wants us to modify our religious curriculum. ...This is why the people approved of what happened in Kuwait, Yemen and Bali'"[4].
El-Zayat is currently the lawyer for the Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who was living in exile in Italy when he was allegedly abducted by the CIA's Special Activities Division under the direction of Robert Seldon Lady[5].
[edit] References
- ^ UNHCR information on al-Zayyat and other Egyptians
- ^ Al-Zayyat's website in Arabic. Includes a list of his writings.
- ^ a b Keeping Al-Qaeda in His Grip: Al-Zawahiri Presses Ideology, Deepens Rifts Among Islamic Radicals, Washington Post, April 16, 2006
- ^ a b U.S. policies causing Islamists rage, some say, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 1, 2002
- ^ Abducted imam seeks return to Italy, ANSA, April 8, 2006
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