Egyptian physician with a $5 million price on his head
While in an Egyptian prison on a weapons charge, al-Zawahiri emerged as a spokesman for imprisoned Islamic militants.
(CNN) -- Ayman al-Zawahiri, a bespectacled physician from a prominent Egyptian family, is one of the most wanted terrorist suspects in the world, reputed to be the No. 2 man in the al Qaeda network blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The U.S. State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of al-Zawahiri, who has a long history of militant activity.
The 50-year-old surgeon was a teen-ager when he joined the outlawed al Jihad group, also known as Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which aspires to overthrow the government and turn the country into a fundamentalist Islamic state.
Al-Zawahiri eventually became the leader of al Jihad. Prosecutors say that in February, 1998, he merged his group with the al Qaeda network run by Saudi-exile Osama bin Laden from a base in Afghanistan.
"The relationship of the al Jihad group and al Qaeda is essentially they are the same organization," said Peter Bergen, CNN's terrorism expert and author of "Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden." "They have cooperated for a number of years. The U.S. government says they merged in 1998 but they effectively merged years before that."
Born on June 19, 1951, al-Zawahiri grew up in an upper-class neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt. Both his grandfathers were renowned scholars and his father was a prominent physician.
"He used to write poetry to his mother," said Mahfouz Azzam, al-Zawahiri's uncle. He added that his nephew was a quiet and studious child, as well as deeply religious.
"He was known as a good Muslim, keen to pray at the mosque and to read and to think and to have his own positions."
While a student in the 1960s, al-Zawahiri became involved in the Islamic fundamentalist movement roiling through Egypt. He had graduated from medical school and begun working as a surgeon when he made his first trip to Afghanistan in 1979, the year that the Soviets invaded the country.
Political tensions came to a boil in Egypt after President Anwar Sadat began making peace with Israel. In October of 1981, Sadat was assassinated. Islamic extremists were tried and convicted in a military court.
But there was a second trial. Al-Zawahiri was among the 302 activists rounded up and tried on conspiracy charges. Although he was aquitted of conspiracy, he was convicted on an unrelated weapons charge and spent three years in prison.
'We want to speak to the whole world'
Egyptian officials linked al Jihad to the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan.
Due to his charisma and fluent English, al-Zawahiri emerged as a sort of international spokesman for the imprisoned Islamic activists.
"We want to speak to the whole world," he said in 1983. "We are Muslims who believe in our religion. ... Were are here, the real Islamic front and the real Islamic opposition."
By the time al-Zawahiri was released from prison he had moved into the top ranks of the militants. He left Egypt in 1985 and lived in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, where he committed himself to the fight against Soviet-backed forces.
During this time, al-Zawahiri met bin Laden, who had also left behind a privileged upbringing to join the fight in Afghanistan. The two became close, linked by their common bond as "Afghan Arabs."
While tending to the wounded in Afghanistan, al-Zawahiri also worked to re-establish al Jihad. He eventually began traveling to broaden his network. In 1995, using an alias, al-Zawahiri even visited California on a secret fund-raising mission.
That same year, extremists carried out a suicide bombing at the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Officials have tied al Jihad to the ttack.
A fatwa against Americans
Al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden were indicted for allegedly masterminding the twin bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998.
Al-Zawahiri emerged from the shadows in 1998. As the leader of al Jihad, he aligned with bin Laden to announce the formation of the World Islamic Front for the Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders. Among its goals were the elimination of the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, the U.N. embargo against Iraq and Israel's control of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.
Along with bin Laden, al-Zawahiri signed a fatwa, or declaration, stating: "The judgement to kill and fight Americans and their allies, whether civilians or military, is an obligation for every Muslim."
"Ayman al-Zawahiri's influence on bin Laden has been profound," said Peter Bergen. "According to a number of people who know both men, (al-Zawahiri) helped (bin Laden) become more radical, more anti-American and more violent."
Some Egyptians believe that al-Zawahiri's anger toward the United States was due to what many Afghan Arabs felt was a betrayal by the CIA, which helped fund the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan and then abandoned its support as the country slipped into tribal anarchy.
But others date al-Zawahiri's wrath to 1998, when the United States pushed for a number of al Jihad members to be extradited from Albania to stand trial in Egypt for terrorism.
On August 4 of that year, the al Hayat newspaper office in Cairo received a fax from al Jihad stating: "We should like to inform the Americans that, in short, their message has been received and that they should read carefully the reply that will, with God's help, be written in the language that they understand."
Three days later, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. Both al-Zawahiri and bin Laden would be indicted on charges of masterminding the bombings.
Before the United States struck back for the U.S. embassy bombings, with cruise missile attacks on al Qaeda training camps, al-Zawahiri called a Pakistani journalist and denied that bin Laden was behind the attacks. He also warned of more to come.
In 1999, Egypt tried the al Jihad members who had been extradited from Albania. Al-Zawahiri and one of his brothers, Mohammed, were tried in absentia and given the death penalty.
Al-Zawahiri, left, is reputed to be the right-hand man and chief tactician of Osama bin Laden, right.
But al-Zawahiri remained in Afghanistan. U.S. government sources believe that he was one of the key planners for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The international police agency Interpol issued an arrest warrant for al-Zawahiri that alleges he "masterminded several terrorist operations in Egypt" and accuses him of "criminal complicity and management for the purpose of committing premeditated murders."
Since September 11, al-Zawahiri has raised his public profile, appearing twice in videos obtained by the Arabic television station al-Jazeera, in which he delivers a blistering denunciation of the United States.
"America must ask, why is America hated?" al-Zawahiri said in one of the videos.
Al Hayat reporter Mohammed Salah, who once interviewed al-Zawahiri through an intermediary, said that the videos represent a break from al-Zawarhiri's former clandestine nature.
"His appearance was a message saying this is an alliance and Osama bin Laden is not alone. And it is not only al Qaeda, but there is another organization and America is a big target," Salah said.
Azzam interpreted his nephew's message differently. "Never in his words did he mention terror or aggressive things. He (told) the American people that they have to ask their government to think about its policy in the Arab and Muslim world and he was reflecting the (views of) millions of people in the Muslim world."
The Mufti of Egypt, the country's ranking Muslim cleric, said that al-Zawahir and bin Laden have both misused Islam by urging all Muslims to embark on a jihad, or holy war, against Americans.
"We say what has been broadcast by bin Laden and those who are with him doesn't represent Islam or Muslims and we disapprove of it completely," said Nasr Farid Wassel.
Many terrorism experts believe that if bin Laden were captured or killed, al-Zawahiri would be well placed to take over al Qaeda and continue its work.
Al-Zawahiri is "sort of the brains of the operation," Bergen said.
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