Report: Major Ansar Al-Sharia Egypt figure arrested

Mohammed al-Zawahiri has reportedly been arrested near Cairo by Egypt’s security forces. If that last name sounds familiar, it’s because Mohammed is the younger brother of Al-Qaeda’s number one, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The younger brother is also a prominent figure within Ansar Al-Sharia Egypt, a group believed to be connected to the Benghazi attacks last year.

Mohammed al-Zawahiri: Prominent Ansar Al-Sharia Egypt figure arrested

Mohammed al-Zawahiri: Prominent Ansar Al-Sharia Egypt figure arrested

Via Fox News / AFP:

Egyptian authorities have arrested Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri, for supporting ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a security source told AFP on Saturday.

The brother was arrested in his home district of Giza, adjacent to the capital, the source said.

Mohamed al-Zawahiri is a figure many Americans are not familiar with but on the morning of 9/11/12, he was outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo with the son of Omar Abdel Rahman (the “Blind Sheikh”) as protests were taking place there. Those protests were not taking place because of the anti-Muhammad video. Protesters, who had been outside the embassy for months, were demanding the release of the Blind Sheikh, the mastermind convicted to a life sentence for his role in the first World Trade Center attack in 1993.

Here is a CNN report (EXHIBIT Z in our original report) by Nic Robertson. Note at the 2:30 mark that al-Zawahiri, the Blind Sheikh’s son, and Robertson are in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on the morning of 9/11/12, talking about the protesters’ demands:

Parting thought on this post. If there is a top ten figure in Egypt the U.S. should be interested in arresting, Mohammed al-Zawahiri should be on the list. If he’s not an official member of Ansar Al-Sharia Egypt, he’s definitely an honorary one. This group was named in a 9/15/12 Libyan Intelligence document (EXHIBIT B of our original report) as being behind the Benghazi attacks. The document says this information was provided by six Egyptians who were arrested and questioned about who was responsible.

These developments only further call into question the trip to Cairo by Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham to demand the release of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners. In arresting Mohammed al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian security forces arrested an individual who at the very least, should be interrogated about Benghazi.

Instead of assisting – or even applauding – what the interim Egyptian government is doing, McCain and Graham are chastising it and may be demanding the release of individuals involved in an act of war perpetrated against the U.S. on 9/11/12.

That doesn’t square with Graham’s signature on a letter to FBI Director James Comey that demands answers on Benghazi.

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