Rare video appears of Al Qaeda's chief Ayman al Zawahiri praising an Indian Muslim woman who defied a ban on wearing hijab, revealing proof that he is still alive
There is no clear indication of the location of Zawahiri from the video. He is shown in a traditional white headscarf beside a poster praising “the noble woman of India.”
Rumours of the death of Ayman al Zawahiri have persistently circulated, but in a video released on Tuesday and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, the reclusive Al Qaeda chief praises Muskan Khan who defied a ban on the wearing of the hijab in schools in India’s southwestern state of Karnataka.
“He could still be dead, though if so, it would have been at some point in or after January 2021,” tweeted Rita Katz, SITE’s director following Zawahiri's 9/11 anniversary video. Zawahiri took over leadership of Al Qaeda after the 2011 death of Osama bin Laden, killed by US Navy SEALS during a daring nighttime raid deep inside Pakistan where he was hiding.