According to Amnesty International, Egypt made further arrests after 11 September. Amnesty also claimed that “torture and ill-treatment of detainees was widespread”.
One reason for Egyptian concern is that some key al-Qaeda figures have come from Egypt and several of them remain at large. One of Osama Bin Laden’s closest aides is an Egyptian-born surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri, who is seen as al-Qaeda’s chief ideologue. But other Egyptians have been active in specific attacks.
