Muhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi was an alleged member of

Egyptian Islamic Jihad The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ; ), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad () and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and then the Jihad Group, or the Jihad Organization, was an Egyptian Islamist group active ...

and was one of the closest colleagues of

Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (; 19 June 195131 July 2022) was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until Killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, his dea ...

Montasser el-Zayat Montasser el-Zayat () or Muntasir al-Zayyat ( ') (born 1956) is an Egyptian lawyer and author whose former clients, according to press reports, included Ayman al-Zawahiri, since 2011 the leader of al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization, and al-Gama'a ...

, ''The Road to al-Qaeda'', 2004. tr. by Ahmed Fakry whom he had known since 1968. He was accused of establishing a turnery in the Gamaliyya district of

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, where he boosted the group's revenues by manufacturing wooden gunparts. It is believed that Essam al-Qamari hid in the turnery after his 1981 defection from the Egyptian army. however he was acquitted by the state security court. An

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

by trade, he was also accused of recruiting members for the group, however he was not convicted by any court and 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 ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

fighting the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

. he was under administrative detention for 17 years in different Egyptian jails despite receiving more than 20 release orders from Egyptian courts, he was the released after Husny Mubarak was removed from power in 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharqawi, Muhammad Abdelrahim Living people Egyptian Islamic Jihad Year of birth missing (living people)