al-Sirri was born in the late 1950s and attended primary school in al-Mansurah from 1967–72, before going to school in Suez for the next ten years.[1] He was arrested in Egypt on accusations of involvement in militant Islamist circles in September 1981.[4] In 1982, he was given a dishonorable discharge from the Egyptian military after partaking in demonstrations against the government,[3] and attended the Institute for Social Services in Port Said for the next five years.[1] In 1984, he was jailed for three months for distributing pamphlets attacking Egyptian political leadership.[5]