Aimen Dean is the Managing Director of Amal Global, a company based in Ireland that conducts in-depth Middle East political, defence and terror analysis as well as terror financing research for international financial institutions and governments. A native of Saudi Arabia, Dean had a rigorous childhood education in Islamic studies: memorizing the Quran and learning the principles of sharia, Islamic history, and Arab tribal genealogy.

In 1994, Dean left Saudi Arabia to join jihadist fighters in Bosnia, before continuing on to other fronts in Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Philippines. In 1997 he joined al-Qaeda, and became part of its bomb making and WMD development efforts.

Al-Qaeda’s 1998 terror attack on two US embassies in East Africa rattled Dean. After long soul-searching, he secretly defected to the British government and worked undercover for eight years passing information to UK intelligence on al-Qaeda’s networks and plots. 

In 2006 his cover was compromised by a book published in the US. He left undercover work to become a consultant for a global bank in the Financial Crime/Counter Terror Finance, offering insights on terrorism, terror financing, and Middle East affairs.

Aimen Dean authored an autobiography titled (Nine Lives: My Time as MI6 Spy Inside Al-Qaeda)