Ahmad Salama Mabruk
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Ahmad Salama Mabruk (1956 - 3 October 2016) was a senior member of Al-Nusra Front, having been present alongside the group's leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani when Al-Nusra was founded. He had also previously been a senior member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Terror career edit
In 1981, Mabruk and his school friend Mustafa Hamza joined the EIJ, and soon after conspired with Muhammad abd-al-Salam Faraj, Aboud El Zomor and Khalid Islambouli to assassinate the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. As a result, Mabruk was jailed for seven years. He was released in 1988, and moved to the Sudan in 1992.
In 1994, Mabruk's son Musab was captured by the Egyptian Intelligence Directorate and filmed being sexually abused. The footage was then used to blackmail Musab into attempting to detonate a bomb at an EIJ meeting, but was discovered and revealed by the Sudanese government, who supported the EIJ at the time. EIJ leader Ayman al-Zawahiri convened a Sharia court, resulting in Musab being found guilty of sodomy, treason and attempted murder and executed by firing squad. This prompted the Sudanese government to declare the EIJ terrorists and expel them from the Sudan. This incident, along with his criticism of the EIJ's ally Osama bin Laden, greatly undermined Mabruk's position in the EIJ.
On 1st December 1996, Mabruk, al-Zawahiri and Mahmud Hisham al-Hennawi were arrested in Russia while carrying false passports. Despite the EIJ's attempts to free them, the trio were sentenced to six months in prison. They were released a month later, but Mabruk was expelled from the leadership of the EIJ soon after by al-Zawahiri for his criticism of bin Laden.
In August 1998, Mabruk was arrested in Azerbaijan while attending a meeting alongside Ihab Saqr and Essam Marzouk after an EIJ informant leaked details of the meeting to Mossad. Under interrogation, Mabruk revealed the names of five members of an Albanian EIJ cell, and he was extradited to Egypt along with the five men. While in Egyptian custody, Mabruk was tortured into informing on dozens of EIJ members and admitting that the EIJ had been using chemical weapons since 1996. He was then sentenced to 15 years in prison. While he was imprisoned, his son Ibrahim was killed in a drone strike alongside Midhat Mursi.
Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Mabruk was released from prison and met Abu Mohammad al-Julani. Soon after, Mabruk was present with al-Julani when he announced the foundation of the militant group Al-Nusra Front, which fights to overthrow the Syrian government and create a Sharia state, joining the central leadership of the group.
At 5:15pm on 3 October 2016, Mabruk was killed in Jisr al-Shughur when his car was destroyed by a drone strike while driving down a suburban street. Al-Nusra Front confirmed his death via Twitter.