AT LARGE
- Full name: Ramzi Mahmoud al-Mowafi
- Pseudonym: “Dr Bin Laden”
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Sinai or Egypt
- Affiliation: Partisans of Jihad in the Sinai [AJJS], Base Organization [al-Qa’ida]
Ramzi Mowafi (°1952) is a long-time senior al-Qa’ida operative and medical doctor from the Egyptian city of Mansoura.1 He reportedly got acquainted with Osama Bin Laden during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in May 1990.2 A few months later, Mowafi traveled to Afghanistan where he linked up with Bin Laden’s al-Qa’ida movement.3 Mowafi treated wounded jihadis at makeshift hospitals in the country and neighboring Pakistan.4 At the same time, he also became an explosives expert.5 Mowafi is also believed to have assisted al-Qa’ida in its experiments with chemical weapons.6 Mowafi left Afghanistan in December 1992.7
Egyptian security forces arrested Mowafi in 1996.8 The authorities charged him with membership of a terrorist organization and planning to overthrow the government. A court later sentenced Mowafi to 31 years in prison.9 During his stay in prison, he steadfastly opposed efforts by other imprisoned jihadi leaders to renounce violence.10 He went on hunger strike on four different occasions.11 In late August 2009, Mowafi went on a weeks-long strike to protest prison conditions and a pending transfer to another facility.12
Mowafi and other incarcerated Islamists, including future Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, escaped from prison on Jan. 29, 2011.13 He traveled to the Sinai where he began training local jihadis and set up an al-Qa’ida branch, the Partisans of Jihad in the Sinai Peninsula [AJJS; Ansar al-Jihad fi-Jazirat al-Sina’a].14 Mowafi also procured weapons and gathered funds.15 He established contacts with other militant groups, including the Partisans of the Holy House [ABaM; Ansar Bait al-Maqdis] and spearheaded efforts to unify the myriad jihadi entities active on the peninsula.16 By 2012, Mowafi was regularly seen as the most important jihadi in the Sinai.17
Mowafi’s influence diminished significantly in the following years however as the ABaM became the dominant militant force on the peninsula. His sway decreased further after the ABaM declared allegiance to al-Qa’ida’s rival, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham] in late 2014. Mowafi remained active with smaller al-Qa’ida-linked groups. At the same time, he was reportedly involved in the central leadership of al-Qa’ida.18 The American government officially designated Mowafi as an international terrorist in October 2014.19 In December 2015, the Egyptian authorities renewed efforts to apprehend him.20 Little information is available on his current status and whereabouts. He might have moved to the Greater Cairo area or Upper Egypt.21
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