| Abdelhakim Belhadj | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 1, 1966[1] Souq al Jum'aa, Tripoli |
| Allegiance | Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (1995–) National Transitional Council (2011–) |
| Service/branch | National Liberation Army |
| Commands held | Tripoli Military Council |
| Battles/wars | Afghan Civil War 2011 Libyan civil war |
Abdelhakim Belhadj (Arabic: عبد الحكيم بالحاج , nom de guerre Abu Abdallah Assadaq[2]) is the emir of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group,[3][4] and a commander of the anti-Gaddafi forces in the 2011 Libyan civil war.
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Born in 1966 in the Souq al Jum'aa area of Tripoli, he studied at Al Fateh University, where he earned a civil engineering degree.[5]
Wanting to rid Libya of Colonel Gaddafi, Belhadj joined other young Islamists who formed a group, but were pursued from the country before they could achieve anything.[6] Leaving the country, via Saudi Arabia he arrived in Afghanistan,[6] and became an Islamist fighter in the Soviet-Afghan war.[4]
In 1992, after the Mujahideen took Kabul, he travelled across the Middle East and Eastern Europe, before returning to Libya in 1992.[6] There he formed with others the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which tried to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi from 1994 onwards. Belhadj was known during this period as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq, and was part of the LIFG that fought an insurgency campaign based from eastern Libya. But after three unsuccessful assassination attempts on Gaddafi, the LIFG was crushed in 1998.[5]
Belhadj and other leaders of the LIFG fled to Afghanistan, and joined the Taliban. In 2002, after the September 11 attacks and Gaddafi's reconciliation with the west, an arrest warrant was issued for Belhadj by the Libyan authorities. In it, it was alleged by Gaddafi government that Belhadj had developed "close relationships" with al-Qaeda leaders, and specifically Taliban chief Mullah Omar.[5] Based in Jalalabad, he is alleged to have run and financed training camps for Arab mujahideen fighters.[5] After the United States entered Afghanistan under the command of the United Nations to confront the Taliban, the remaining members of the LIFG left the country, and roamed Europe and South East Asia.[5]
The article reported that, following the US invasion of Afghanistan, Abdel Hakim was arrested in Pakistan in late 2001, and handed over to US security officials, but unlike other captives taken in Afghanistan, he was repatriated to Libya two months later.
Tracked by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), after a tip-off from MI6 gained from London-based informants,[7] Belhadj was arrested with his pregnant wife in 2004 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia.[6] Transferred on the same plane to Bangkok, he was then placed in the custody of the CIA, where he was retained at a secret prison at the airport.[4][6] Returned to Libya, he was held and tortured in Abu Salim prison for seven years.
According to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, Abdelhakim Belhadj was suspected of complicity in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.[8][9]
In 2010 under a "de-radicalisation" drive championed by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan authorities released him amongst 170 other Libyan Islamists.[4] In March 2011, Belhadj appeared in an unreleased al-Jazeera film, in which he praised the mediation of Saif al-Islam for his release. In response, Gaddafi's son said that the men who had been freed "were no longer a danger to society."[10]
As of December 2011[update], Belhajd is reported to have begun legal proceedings against the British government over its role in his rendition to Libya.[11]
Belhadj was made commander of the Tripoli Military Council, after the rebels took over Tripoli during Operation Mermaid Dawn in late August 2011.[12]
After the rebels had completed their take over of Tripoli, a joint rebel/Human Rights Watch team found documents related to Belhadj and his return to Libya, originating from both the CIA and Britain's MI6. Interviewed jointly by journalists from The Guardian,[7] Le Monde and BBC News's Jeremy Bowen, Belhadj showed the journalists documents relating to his case, and further co-operation between the CIA/MI5 and Libyan security forces under the command of Moussa Koussa. In a later interviewed with captured Abdelati Obeidi, the former Libyan foreign minister under Gaddafi, commented that MI6 had been operating in Tripoli until the start of the revolution in February.[7]
As a result of the allegations, British Prime Minister David Cameron made a statement in the House of Commons, which ordered the inquiry under Sir Peter Gibson, the current UK Intelligence Services Commissioner, to be widened to cover the Libyan allegations.[13]
Abdelhakim Belhadj had at least one brother, Younis Belhaj, who became a senior figure in the Tripoli Council. He was killed in Bani Walid in late November 2011 when a group of rebels were ambushed by loyalists forces.[14]