Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Al-Qaedas new leader called on Libyan fighters who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi to set up an Islamic state and urged Algerians to revolt against their longtime president in a new Internet video posted on Wednesday.
Ayman al-Zawahiri warned Libyan revolutionaries to protect their gains against Western plots, claiming NATO will demand they give up their Islamic faith as the country sets up a new government.
The first thing NATO will ask you to do,is to give up your Islam and not to implement Islamic Sharia law, al-Zawahiri said They want the non-religious and the atheists who dont accept Sharia to rule the Islamic world.
The 13-minute video entitled And the defeats of Americans continue was released by al-Qaedas media arm and surfaced on militant websites. It shows al-Zawahiri,wearing a white robe and turban,sitting against a green backdrop.
Al-Zawahiri,who is Egyptian,also urged Algerians to revolt against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and follow the examples of Arab uprisings that toppled the autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia.
Why dont you revolt against your tyranny,Algerian lions, al-Zawahiri asked.
Al-Qaeda has long opposed the regimes of autocratic Arab leaders the terror group views as godless,corrupt and too closely allied with the US,and has called for the establishment of Islamic rule to replace their regimes.
However,the Arab Spring uprisings have largely been driven by those calling for freedom,human rights and democracy.
Al-Zawahiri was Osama bin Ladens deputy and became head of al-Qaeda in June after bin Ladens death in the May 2 raid by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan.
In the video,al-Zawahiri also praised an August militant attack in southern Israel,when gunmen crossed from Egypt and killed eight Israelis near a Red Sea resort.
