IHT/DSE: Purported Al-Zarqawi successor doing time in Egyptian jail

By Pakinam Amer
First Published: July 17, 2006

U.S. military released inaccurate report of identity of Al-Qaeda leader Al-Muhajir

CAIRO: For more than seven years, Abu-Ayoub Al-Masry, the purported successor to Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, has been held in an Egyptian prison, an Islamist lawyer Mamdouh Ismail told The Daily Star Egypt.
After the death of Al-Zarqawi in Iraq, the U.S. military claimed that Al-Masry had succeeded the militant Islamist and had been appointed leader of the Al-Qaeda faction in Iraq. According to Al-Jazeera, the military claimed the Egyptian-born Al-Masry had moved to Afghanistan, where he was trained in bomb making, and then to Iraq. However, according to Ismail, the claimed successor is in fact doing time in Egypt.
“Al-Masry’s real name is Sherif Hazaa … I met him during a visit to one of my clients in Tora Mazraa Prison, I found him right in front of me,” says Ismail. Hazaa had been arrested in a terrorist case in 1998 and, although he was proved innocent in court, he has not been released since.
“When I met him, he swore to me that he does not even know anything about Iraq, has not left prison for more than seven years [and that] he was astonished when he heard that he was being accused of leading Al-Qaeda in Iraq.”
In response to the incident, the U.S. army center in Iraq was quoted by Al-Masry Al-Youm daily newspaper as saying that they cannot comment on the news that Al-Masry is in an Egyptian prison.
“We have to clarify that from the Egyptian government."
The Islamist’s lawyer, meanwhile, added that Hazaa is not to be confused with Abu-Hamza Al-Muhajir, now on the "most wanted" list broadcasted by the Iraqi government two weeks ago, noting that recent press reports have been identifying him as such.
Around a week ago, reports of the incident mentioned that Al-Masri is also known as Al-Muhajir (referring to Hazaa using both names). Al-Muhajir’s picture was also circulated earlier in the news, following Al-Zarqawi’s death.
“[What has been published] is not true,” says Ismail. “[Hazaa and Al-Muhajir] are two different people. The person in the picture is not Sherif Hazaa or Abu-Ayub Al-Masry … and the identity of Al-Muhajir, the real leader of Al-Qaeda, is still mysterious and unknown.”
Ismail claims that the U.S. military was trying to use the media in order to discover the real identity of Al-Qaeda’s new leader through the premature announcement.
“They circulated an inaccurate report with a wrong name in order to force Al-Qaeda to respond and reveal the real name of their new leader … [Al-Qaeda] did not fall for that, so they did not announce his real name and only identified him as Al-Muhajir,” says Ismail.

Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2290