Essam al-Qamari
Qamari was a courageous man who did not fear anyone in his struggle to follow the path of God, even to the extent of rashness. It was the rashness which caused him a lot of problems with his brethren from the Islamist movements...
— Montasser el-Zayat[1]
Essam Al-Qamari(Arabic:عصام القمري,aliasZakariyya[2]) was a decorated tank commander and Major in the Egyptian army who smuggled weapons and ammunition from army strongholds foral-Jihadas a "disciple" of the lateSayyid Qutb.[3][4]
In February 1981, Egyptian police arrested a man smuggling weapons who was carrying a map of the military's tank placements. Realising that he would likely be implicated, al-Qamari took the opportunity to disappear.[4]He is believed to have hidden at aGamaliyyaapartment owned byMuhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi,that generated profits as aturnery,before acquiring another apartment inGizawith help fromAmeen Yusef al-Domeiry.[1][2]Meanwhile, he acquired a number ofhand grenadesforAbbud al-Zumar,and experimented trying to build a timer-detonator using a fan and a brokenlight bulb,although it failed.[2]
He later strenuously opposedOmar Abdel-Rahman's leadership ofal-Gama'a al-Islamiyyawith other jihadist groups following the assassination ofAnwar Sadat.[5]
In 1988, he escaped from prison along withKhamis MuslimandMohamed al-Aswani,ostensibly aided byKhaled Medhet al-Fiqi.[1]
WhenAyman al-Zawahiriwas arrested, he was immediately asked the whereabouts of al-Qamari and told them he was staying at the Gamaliyya turnery. Since they had spoken earlier in the day about meeting at theKit Kat Mosque,Zawahiri agreed to meet as scheduled and allow the Egyptians to arrest al-Qamari when he entered. He was arrested while performing theNafl salat.[1][6]
References
[edit]- ^abcdEl-Zayyat, Montasser,"The Road to al-Qaeda", 2004. tr. by Ahmed Fakry
- ^abcHigher State Security Court of Egypt, "Confession ofAyman al-Zawahiri:Case #462 ", 1981.
- ^Gerges, Fawaz A. "The Far Enemy", Cambridge University Press, 2005. p. 36
- ^abWright, Lawrence.Kashmir Herald,"Ayman al-Zawahiri: The Man Behind Bin Laden",March 2003
- ^al-Zayat, Montasser,"The Road to al-Qaeda", 2002
- ^ Raphaeli, Nimrod (Winter 2002). "Ayman Muhammad Rabi' Al-Zawahiri: The Making of an Arch Terrorist".Terrorism and Political Violence.14(4): 1–22.doi:10.1080/714005636.S2CID145719225. Cited in "Ayman Muhammad Rabi' Al-Zawahiri".The Jewish Virtual Library.2003-03-11.Retrieved2006-08-29.
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