Muhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi
Muhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi was an alleged member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and one of the closest colleagues of Ayman al-Zawahiri.[1]
An engineer by trade, he was put in charge of recruiting members for the group by al-Zawahiri, whom he had known since 1968.[1]
He established a turnery at his apartment in the Gamaliyya district of Cairo, where he boosted the group's revenues by manufacturing wooden gunparts.[1] It is believed that Essam al-Qamari hid in the turnery after his 1981 defection from the Egyptian army.[1]
When Pakistan arrested him and extradited him to Egypt, the "fears of Arab Afghan leaders skyrocketed" as it signalled the start of a "war" against the Mujahideen fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[1] He was sentenced to three years in Tora Prison, and upon his release sought out Zawahiri again and resumed his partnership.[1]