AFP PHOTO
Leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, has called on Egyptians to restart their revolution, impose shari’a (Islamic law), and has told Muslims to kidnap foreigners.
Al-Zawahiri appeared in a 58-minute video released on Friday according to US-based SITE Intelligence Group, and said Egypt’s revolution was just beginning.
Al-Zawahiri heavily criticised Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy. He called his government “corrupt” and questioned Morsy’s commitment to the liberation of Palestine and the institution of shari’a law in Egypt. He called Morsy a “president without authority” and accused him of participating in the United States’ “war on terror.”
“I call on all honourable Egyptians…to carry out the revolution that was aborted,” said Al-Zawahiri, adding Egyptians should kidnap citizens of countries that “waged war against Muslims.”
The senior Al-Qaeda leader maintained that Egypt’s internal battle was with minorities and secular forces, which were resisting Islamic law in the country.
He added that the liberation of the “Blink Sheikh,” Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in the United States, was the duty of every Muslim.
Al-Zawahiri called US President Barack Obama a “professional liar.” “Obama must admit he and his allies are standing on the path to defeat, and that Osama bin Laden…and the rest of the Mujahedeen and the Muslim Nation are standing in the victorious path, whether anyone likes it or not,” he said.
Al-Zawahiri was deputy to Osama bin Laden before he was killed in May 2011, after which Al-Zawahiri took control of Al-Qaeda.
