Al-Zawahiri, Ayman (1951–)

aka Abu Muhammad, Abu Fatima, Muhammad Ibrahim, Abu Abdallah, Abu al-Mu'iz, the Doctor, the Teacher, Nur, Ustaz, Abu Mohammed, Abu Mohammed Nur al-Deen, Abdel Muaz, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri

Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian physician, is alleged to be both Osama bin Laden's closest adviser and his doctor. Viewed as the mastermind who led bin Laden and Al Qaeda into creating instruments of mass murder, al-Zawahiri numbers among the 22 men declared “most wanted terrorists” by the FBI. He is said to be the most likely successor to bin Laden and is suspected of playing a key role in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Al-Zawahiri's family is prominent in both Egypt's politics and religion. His father taught at the University of Cairo, his grandfather was a well-known imam, and his uncle was the first secretary general of the Arab League. Al-Zawahiri took a very different path and was arrested at age 15 for involvement in Muslim Brotherhood, a militant group banned in Egypt.

According to his autobiography, al-Zawahiri was transformed in 1980 after leaving work at a Cairo Muslim Brotherhood clinic to go to Pakistan and give medical aid to Afghan refugees. A founding member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, al-Zawahiri built up the organization during the 1970s and became its leader. The group, said to be a major influence on bin Laden's Al Qaeda, opposes the secular Egyptian government and advocates its overthrow through violence. Al-Zawahiri admitted planning the 1981 assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, in which Islamic Jihad members disguised themselves as soldiers to reach and assassinate Sadat in full view of Egyptian television. Al-Zawahiri was arrested for illegal possession of firearms and spent three years in jail following Sadat's death but was never charged in the killing.

In the aftermath of Sadat's death, Egyptian security officials held suspects without trial and tortured many of them. Members of Islamic Jihad began to flee Egypt in large numbers. Al-Zawahiri left Egypt in 1986 and went to Saudi Arabia, then traveled to Pakistan, caring for Afghan soldiers wounded in the guerrilla war against the Soviet Union. During this time, al-Zawahiri met bin Laden and merged his Islamic Jihad group with Al Qaeda in the mid-1990s, giving Al Qaeda a more radical anti-American stance. Using disguises and false documents, al-Zawahiri traveled through many Western countries, even visiting the United States in the 1990s on a fundraising mission.

Al-Zawahiri worked very closely with bin Laden in Al Qaeda's majlis al shura or consultation council. Al Qaeda, an Arabic word meaning “The Base,” is an international network that uses force and violence [Page 26]to drive the United States from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries. The Al Qaeda network, which serves as an umbrella group for other militant organizations, establishes cells in areas it plans to attack.

The United States indicted al-Zawahiri for his involvement in the planning of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, in which 224 people were killed and thousands wounded. Coordinated truck bombs went off within minutes of each other at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, cities 400 miles apart.

Shortly after the embassy bombings, the U.S. government announced that bin Laden and Al Qaeda operatives were responsible. In retaliation, President Clinton ordered air attacks on Al Qaeda training grounds in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan. International criticism of the air raids was vociferous as many debated whether the factory in Sudan had any relation to bin Laden or chemical weapons. In 2001, four men tied to Al Qaeda were convicted in the United States of various roles in the bombings. Al Qaeda is also widely accused of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

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