Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodx al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra...
, under investigation for allegedly calling for the creation of a "terrorist group", was released Thursday from an Egyptian prison, his son and security officials said.
On February 23, a court had ordered the release of Mohammed al-Zawahiri, 64, while the investigation was still underway.
Security officials said Zawahiri walked out on Thursday from a Cairo prison after having spent more than two-and-a-half years behind bars.
"My father has been released. He reached home early this morning," his son, Abdelrahman Zawahiri, told AFP.
Zawahiri was initially incarcerated
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
in August 2013, a month after the army's ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi and at the height of a crackdown against his supporters.
He and dozens of other defendants were accused of having formed "a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda" and plotting attacks on government installations, security forces and Egypt's Christian minority -- all charges which defense lawyers denied.
He stood trial but was acquitted of any wrongdoing in October 2015, although 10 co-defendants were handed death sentences.
The judge, however, kept him in detention and ordered an investigation into remarks made by Zawahiri during the trial in which he allegedly called for the formation of a "terrorist group".
But on February 23, another court ordered his release.