Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri posted a YouTube video on Monday urging Salafi leader Hazem Salah Abu Ismail and his supporters to reignite the revolution, which he claimed had been manipulated and aborted by other parties.
Abu Ismail, an ultra-conservative who preaches a strict interpretation of Islam, emerged in early 2012 as one of the frontrunners for the first presidential vote since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak. The electoral commission barred him from running because his late mother allegedly had a US passport.
“You must meet the request of the Egyptian people for Sharia rule in order to attain dignity and pride,” Zawahiri said in his video. “The corrupt powers in Egypt must be forced to bow to the demands of the people through popular revolution, preaching and inciting action.”
“The revolution must continue, and the Muslim community must make sacrifices until you retrieve Egypt's glory and cleanse it of the corrupt powers that still control it with foreign support,” he added.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
