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Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-NaggarAhmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar was a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist terrorist group active since the 1970s. The ADL dubbed him the "propaganda chief" of the militant organisation.[1] He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA prior to the 2001 declaration of a War on Terror.[2] Life
—al-Nagger[3]
His permanent address was on al-Shaikh al-Husari street in Giza.[4] In 1991, he was sentenced in absentia to three years imprisonment in the al-Jihad case arising from the assassination of Anwar Sadat.[3] However, he fled the country in 1993 when Adil al-Sudani got him a false passport in the name of Abdel Raheem Mohammed Hussein and bought him an October 18 ferry ticket from Nuwaiba to Jordan, and told him to wait for a phone call at the Jordan River Hotel in Amman.[5] When he arrived the next day, he received a call from Mahmud al-Deeb who told him to book a flight four days later to Sanaa, Yemen to meet with him. When al-Naggar arrived, he was greeted by Ayman al-Zawahiri and his brother Muhammad al-Zawahiri, Ahmad Salamah Mabruk, and Thirwat Shehata, who assured him that al-Jihad took care of its own, and they were glad to see him safe.[5] In 1994, he was asked to travel to Sudan, and was subsequently met by al-Zawahiri, who asked him to oversee civil organisation of al-Jihad.[4] In October of the following year, Zawahiri asked him to instead travel to Yemen to oversee civil operations there; but three months later was told to travel with his fake passport in the name of Ahmed Rajab Mohammed, to take a job as a teacher with the Haramain charity in Tirana, Albania.[4] He also led the Centre for Islamic Heritage.[6] Following the 1996 rise of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, al-Naggar tried to link al-Jihad to the new government, noting their shared ideals.[3] Capture, trials, execution
—al-Naggar, during trial[7]
He was sentenced to death in absentia in an Egyptian military court on October 15, 1997, for the crime of membership in al-Jihad, and possession of weapons.[4][8][9] He was ostensibly linked to the 1995 plot to blow up the Khan el-Khalili market, as well as the assassination of Speaker of Parliament Rifaat el-Mahgoub in October 1990.[6][10][11] The trial was condemned as "unfair" by Amnesty International.[8] In 1998, Adel Abdel Bari asked al-Naggar to claim asylum in the United Kingdom, so he could help convince Hani Sibai to support the Algerian GIA in media communiques.[12] He was arrested on July 2, 1998, as he stepped off the plane in Cairo, having been deported from Albania with the help of the CIA.[4] His wife was also arrested. He was tried in the 1999 Returnees from Albania trial at which he was defended by Montasser el-Zayat. He was tortured for nine months; locked in a room with water up to his knees 24 hours a day. When taken to SSI headquarters in Lazughli Square and questioned by Captain Yasir Azzulddin,[4] his hands and feet were tied, as interrogators applied electric shocks to his nipples and penis.[9] Under torture, al-Naggar admitted that al-Jihad had acquired anthrax from an unnamed East Asian country for $3,695.[13] He later claimed his confessions were only a result of this torture. He was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment.[9] In November, he was transferred to Tora Prison, where Amnesty noted he was at less risk of torture or sudden execution.[14] Together with the other three returnees brought from Tirana, his capture and torture were listed as the main reasons for the 1998 United States embassy bombings.[10] He was hanged on February 23, 2000, at al-Isti'naf prison, due to the earlier death sentence levied against him.[8][9] References
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