Ahmed Refai Taha

The Egyptian Refa'i Ahmed Taha ( _ar. US Treasury Department] puts his date of birth at 24 June 1954, and lists additional aliases of his, including 'Issam 'Ali Muhammad 'Abd Allah, (عصام علي محمد عبد الله). He is named as an undicted co-conspirator in the current indictmentc] of 21 members of al-Qaeda and affiliated groups, for various roles in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa. Earlier in 1998, Taha was one of five people who signed, or are alleged to have signed, a threatening so-called "fatwa" against the United States and Israel and their civilians; the other signatories included Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri; see Fatāwā of Osama bin Laden. In 2000, Taha appeared in a video with bin Laden and al-Zawahiri which threatened a violence over the imprisonment of Omar Abdel-Rahman. [http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2000/2450.htm Background Information on Terrorist Groups] , part of the US State Department's report "Patterns of Global Terrorism - 2000"]

Taha was also wanted in his native Egypt, where he had been sentenced to death in the 1999 case of the Returnees from Albania. [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/556/11war3.htm Egypt's most wanted] , al-Ahram Weekly, 18 October 2001] In October of 2001 Taha was arrested at the Damascus airport (after fleeing the post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, quite probably) and quietly extradited to Egypt. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4686228/ Al-Qaida: Dead or captured] , "MSNBC"; see October 2001] Al-Qaeda claimed in 2006 that he is still alive in custody"As-Sahab" (al-Qaeda) internet video with al-Zawahiri and al-Hukaymah, 5 August 2006] while some other al-Qaeda propaganda still holds up Abdel-Rahman (who is in prison, in ADX Florence) as the "spiritual" leader of the Egyptian side of that body. Official sources have not revealed where Taha is, or even whether he is still alive. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/refai_taha_musa.htm Refai Taha Musa] at "Global Security", cites official sources]

References

Persondata
NAME=Taha, Ahmed Refai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Taha, Ahmed Refai; al-Masri, Abu Yasser
SHORT DESCRIPTION=terrorist
DATE OF BIRTH=24 June 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH=Egypt
DATE OF DEATH=N/A
PLACE OF DEATH=N/A