Nine Lives

My time as the West's top spy inside al-Qaeda

As one of al-Qaeda’s most respected scholars and bomb-makers, Aimen Dean rubbed shoulders with the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden himself. As a double agent working for MI6, he foiled numerous attacks on civilians, brushing with death so often that his handlers began to call him their spy with nine lives. This is the story of how a young Muslim, determined to defend his faith, found himself fighting on the wrong side and the fateful decision he made to work for his sworn enemy. Through a life undercover spanning some of the most lethal conflicts of the past fifty years, from Bosnia to Syria, we discover what it’s like to be at the heart of the global jihad, and what it will take to stop it once and for all.