Ayman Al-Zawahiri |
Wanted terrorist and
brother-in-law of al Qaeda's number two commander, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is
dead, according to an announcement on an Islamist website.
The
announcement, posted Monday on the website for the al-Maqrizi Center for
Historical Studies, says that Usama Hasan, whose sister Omayma is married to
al-Zawahiri, was "martyred" in Afghanistan earlier this year.
According to the statement, Hasan, from Cairo, was convicted in absentia by
Egyptian courts in 1999 for his membership in the Egyptian terror group Gama'a
Islamiya, part of which later merged with al Qaeda.
He
was arrested again in Iran in 2001, released later that year and made his way
to Afghanistan where he mysteriously dropped off the radar, the statement says,
until the al-Maqrizi Center claimed they received information related to his
death.
The
statement does not release details or circumstances of Hasan's death in
Afghanistan, but Islamist websites frequently announce deaths once they become
known. Hasan was not a major figure in al Qaeda or Gama'a Islamiya, but he was
connected by family and marriage to some of the world's most dangerous and
notorious terrorists. According to the al-Maqrizi Center announcement, two of
Hasan's other sisters were also married to leaders of Zawahiri's Islamic Jihad,
which later became part of al Qaeda. One is currently imprisoned in Egypt and
another was killed in 2001 in Afghanistan. Only Zawahiri remains free and
alive.
News of
Hasan's death comes just days after al-Zawahiri appeared in a rare video
message urging Arab armies to intervene in Libya to oust dictator Moammar
Gadhafi before "Western aid... turns into invasions."
The hour-plus
long video posted online is the first since Egypt's successful revolution and
features the Osama bin Laden deputy in a white robe with the barrel of an
assault rifle visible at his side. In addition to discussing the bloody
fighting in Libya, al-Zawahiri, also an Egyptian native, celebrates the
overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and says that the continuation of
the North African nation depends on the destruction of Israel and the
establishment of Islamic law.
Source & Read More: ABC News
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