Al Jazeera’s Pak bureau chief is Al-Qaida member, says US

Washington, May 9

The US has labelled a journalist, who interviewed Osama bin Laden and for years managed Al Jazeera’s bureau in Pakistan, as a member of Al-Qaida and put him on a terrorist list, according to a media report.

Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan, Al Jazeera’s long-time Islamabad bureau chief, has been singled out as a member of the terrorist group in the new document detailing US intelligence efforts to track Al-Qaida couriers by analysing metadata, reported online news site The Intercept.

Zaidan, a Syrian national, has focused his reporting throughout his career on the Taliban and Al-Qaida, and has conducted many high-profile interviews with Al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

The document obtained by the news site through former National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden show that Zaidan was the subject of US surveillance as recently as June 2012.

A slide dated June 2012 from a National Security Agency PowerPoint presentation bears his photo, name, and a terror watch list identification number, and labels him a ‘member of Al-Qaida’ as well as the Muslim Brotherhood,” the report said. “It also notes that he ‘works for Al Jazeera’,” it said. — PTI