Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim

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Mohammad al-Hakim
alias Abu Jihad al-Masri

Senior al-Qaeda suspect
Born circa 1961
Egypt
Occupation Propaganda chief
Mohammad Khalil al-Hukaymah
alias Abu Jihad al-Masri
Born unknown d.o.b.
Aswan, Egypt
Children at least one male and two female

Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim (Arabic: محمد حسن خليل الحكيم ‎) alias Abu Jihad al-Masri ( أبو جهاد المصري ) (born c. 1961) is purported by US authorities to operate in Iran as the head of media and propaganda for al-Qaeda, and "may also be the Chief of External Operations for al Qaeda".[1] The name Abu Jihad is an informal or assumed name meaning roughly "father of the holy war", and al-Masri simply means the Egyptian.

Al-Hakim seems to be the person who appeared in an August 2006 as-Sahab (al-Qaeda) video to announce the merger of al-Qaeda with part of the Egyptian caliphist group al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya. He is identified in that video as Muhammad Khalil Hasan al-Hukaymah ( محمد خليل حسن الحكايمة ) and more briefly as Muhammad Khalil al-Hukaymah (محمد خليل الحكايمة) and as Abu Jihad al-Masri. In that video al-Hukaymah is introduced by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is also Egyptian and a former Gama'a affiliate (see e.g. Fatāwā of Osama bin Laden). The video claims that al-Hukaymah joined al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya in 1979 and was arrested in connection with the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat in 1981, and subsequently rearrested several times in various countries. Zawahiri claims in that video that Muhammad al-Islambouli (brother of assassin Khalid al-Islambouli) had joined al-Qaeda with al-Hukaymah. Other al-Qaeda propaganda[2][3] claims that al-Hukaymah worked with Refai Ahmed Taha (former Gama'a leader and affiliate of al-Zawahiri), but that is uncorroborated.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rewards For Justice wanted poster of al-Hakim, US Department of State
  2. ^ Tawhed website, in Arabic; access is blocked in some jurisdictions
  3. ^ Copy of Tawhed's claims about al-Hukaymah, at the website of Hani al-Sibai