Sayyid Qutb
On 29 August 1966, Sayyid Qutb was executed by hanging by Egyptian president's Gamal Abdel-Nasser's regime for his alleged role in the president's assassination plot. This would later paint him as an Islamic martyr or shahid (he is often called "Shahid Sayyid Qutb" or Sayyid Qutb al-Shahid by admirers) among supporters &amp; Islamist circles, particularly as the trial was alleged to be a show trial. Qutb wrote his major Islamist works (a commentary of the Qur'an, "Fi Zilal al-Qur'an" (In the Shade of the Qur'an), and a manifesto of political Islam called "Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq" (Milestones), while incarcerated and allegedly tortured. This, alongside his allegedly extrajudicial execution, elevated the value of these two major writings, giving his radical, violent Islamist doctrine in his writings a stronger influence over future terrorist organizations.