Al Qaeda leader dispels rumour of his death via video message

A rare video has appeared of Al Qaeda's leader praising an Indian Muslim woman who in February defied a ban on wearing hijab, revealing the first proof in months that he is still alive.

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.

She shouted “God Is Great” as Hindu radical students jeered at her over the Islamic headscarf. In March the court in India's Karnataka state upheld the ban, outraging civil activists and Muslim groups in India and elsewhere.

A previous video of Zawahiri, which circulated on the anniversary last year of 9/11, did not reference the Taliban's August takeover. It did mention the January 1, 2021 attack that targeted Russian troops on the edge of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.

“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.

From Tuesday's video there is no clear indication of the location of Zawahiri. He is shown in a traditional white headscarf beside a poster praising “the noble woman of India.”

READ MORE: Why the Taliban will allow Al Qaeda to stay in Afghanistan

However, it raises the spectre of Al Qaeda having a presence in Afghanistan, and highlights concerns over the commitment of the ruling Taliban to fight terrorist groups and deny them space in Afghanistan.

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. 

Bin Laden, who masterminded the 9/11 attacks in the United States, was found in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, barely 100 kilometres from the capital Islamabad. 

Zawahiri's location

Zawahiri has been rumoured to be in Afghanistan’s northwestern Kunar and Badakhshan provinces on the border with Pakistan. The border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan is lined with inhospitable mountain ranges that have served as redoubts for a number of terrorist groups in the region.

Amir Rana, executive director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies think tank said that Zawahiri was also rumoured to be in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, where many of the Taliban leaders long maintained homes during Afghanistan’s 20-year war.

“He was even rumoured to have died in Karachi,” said Rana, adding that regardless of his location, Zawahiri's video is certain to cause headaches for the ruling Taliban with the international community. 

Afghanistan's Taliban were ousted by a US-led coalition in 2001 for harbouring Bin Laden. They returned in August last year after a chaotic end to the US and NATO 20-year war in Afghanistan.

They say they're adhering to an agreement they signed with the United States in 2020 – before taking power – in which they promised to fight terrorists. Since returning to power they have repeatedly said that Afghanistan would not be used as a launching pad for attacks against other countries.

READ MORE: Al Qaeda: Ten years after Osama bin Laden