Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian Islamist lawyer Muntassir Al-Zayyat, which aired on Al-Mehwar TV on August 6, 2011:
Interviewer: "Did you cry over bin Laden?"
Muntassir Al-Zayyat: "I shed tears. By Allah, I shed tears. I love Osama bin Laden. I love him."
Interviewer: "Tell me why."
Muntassir Al-Zayyat: "And I refer to him as Sheik Osama bin Laden. First of all, I love him because he is true to himself and to his God."
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Interviewer: "In what way is he true to God?"
Muntassir Al-Zayyat: "No, no. Osama bin Laden's general strategy was to fight the US, which is considered to be the Great Satan. This was his general philosophy. In addition, he had a regional goal: To drive the polytheists out of the Arabian Peninsula."
Interviewer: "Who are these polytheists?"
Muntassir Al-Zayyat: "The foreign armies in the Gulf."
Interviewer: "What do you think about the throwing of his body into the sea?"
Muntassir Al-Zayyat: "This was audacity, ignominy, and disrespect." […]
