Muhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi

Muhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi was an alleged member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and one of the closest colleagues of Ayman al-Zawahiri.[1]

An engineer by trade, he was put in charge of recruiting members for the group by al-Zawahiri, whom he had known since 1968.[1]

He established a turnery at his apartment in the Gamaliyya district of Cairo, where he boosted the group's revenues by manufacturing wooden gunparts.[1] It is believed that Essam al-Qamari hid in the turnery after his 1981 defection from the Egyptian army.[1]

When Pakistan arrested him and extradited him to Egypt, the "fears of Arab Afghan leaders skyrocketed" as it signalled the start of a "war" against the Mujahideen fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[1] He was sentenced to three years in Tora Prison, and upon his release sought out Zawahiri again and resumed his partnership.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 El-Zayyat, Montasser, "The Road to al-Qaeda", 2004. tr. by Ahmed Fakry