Essam Al-Qamari ( ar, عصام القمري, alias ''Zakariyya''Higher State Security Court of Egypt, "Confession of

Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death. Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with ...

: Case #462", 1981.) was a decorated tank commander and Major in the Egyptian army who smuggled weapons and ammunition from army strongholds for al-Jihad as a "disciple" of the late Sayyid Qutb.Wright, Lawrence. Kashmir Herald,
Ayman al-Zawahiri: The Man Behind Bin Laden
, March 2003 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. He is believed to have hidden at a Gamaliyya apartment owned by Muhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi, that generated profits as a turnery, before acquiring another apartment in

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

with help from Ameen Yusef al-Domeiry. Meanwhile, he acquired a number of

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

s for Abbud al-Zumar, and experimented trying to build a timer-detonator using a fan and a broken

light bulb An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...

, although it failed. He later strenuously opposed Omar Abdel-Rahman's leadership of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya with other jihadist groups following the assassination of

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

. al-Zayat, Montasser, "The Road to al-Qaeda", 2002 In 1988, he escaped from prison along with Khamis Muslim and Mohamed al-Aswani, ostensibly aided by

Khaled Medhet al-Fiqi Khaled is a male Arabic name, and may refer to: People * Khaled Azhari (born 1966), Egyptian politician * Khaled Chehab (1886–1978), Lebanese politician * Khaled (musician), an Algerian Raï musician * DJ Khaled, a Palestinian-American DJ Surna ...

. When

was 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 the Kit Kat Mosque, Zawahiri agreed to meet as scheduled and allow the Egyptians to arrest al-Qamari when he entered. He was arrested while performing the Nafl salat. Cited in

References

Year of birth missing 1980s deaths {{Egypt-mil-bio-stub