Ayman Al Zawahri, Al Qaeda Leader, Urges Muslims to Kidnap Westerners
“The leader of al-Qaida has urged Muslims to kidnap Westerners to exchange for imprisoned jihadists, including a blind cleric serving a life sentence in the United States for a 1993 plot to blow up New York City landmarks,” reports the Associated Press. In a video-typed statement, published widely on jihadist websites, Ayman al-Zawahri also insisted that Egypt’s new government must be based strictly on Islamic law. “Shariah must be the source of legislation … This is the first step to cleanse the constitution and laws in order to implement Islamic Shariah law.”