Fuad Qalaf

Fuad Mohamed Qalaf (Somali: Fu'aad Maxamed Khalaf, Arabic: فؤاد محمد خلف‎) (born 28 March 1965), also known as Fuad Shangole,[1] is a Somali-Swedish militant Islamist. He was a senior leader of the now defunct Islamic Courts Union (ICU), and is currently a senior leader of its successor al-Shabaab.[1]

Biography

Born in Mogadishu, Qalaf came to Sweden as an asylum seeker in 1992 and later received Swedish citizenship.[2][3] He stayed in Sweden for twelve years, most of the time working as an Imam at a mosque in the Stockholm area.[2][3] As such, he worked to influence young Muslims about Jihad.[2] In 2004, Qalaf returned to Somalia together with his family to fight with the Islamic Courts Union in the war against the Transitional Federal Government and allied Ethiopian forces.[2]

Following the conquest of Mogadishu in 2007, Qalaf went on to serve as head of the Department of Education under the new ICU-government.[2][3] The Somali human rights group Sultan Hurre Human Rights Focus also described him as a "senior leader" of ICU militant youth wing al-Shabaab.[4] After the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006 and the subsequent fall of the ICU-government, Qalaf and other ICU leaders fled to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.[5] In April 2007 he was reported as living in Kenya.[2]

According to the Swedish news website Nyheter24, Qalaf participated in the March 2009 stoning of a thirteen-year-old Somali girl named Asho Duhalow.[6] The girl was sentenced to death according to Islamic Sharia law because she reportedly didn't follow Islamic clothing laws.[6] Later during the day, according to the same source, he also cut the hand of a Somali man who was accused of theft.[6] The man had stolen money and clothes to the value of approximately US$100.[6] In May 2014, Qalaf stated that al-Shabab fighters would carry out jihad, or holy war, in Kenya and Uganda "and afterward, with God's will, to America."[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Abdi, Mohamed (2009-05-06). "Somalia: Al-Shabab angered by Somali key Media Org" (in Swedish). Waagacusub Media. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kino, Nuri (2007-04-16). "Islamistisk ledare värvade i Sverige" (in Swedish). Metro. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  3. 1 2 3 Farah, Mohamed Abdi (2006-10-11). "Somalia: abroad Somali communities urged to return home for Jihad". SomaliNet. Retrieved 2006-12-27.
  4. ↑ "Somalia: The Tough Part is Ahead". Sultan Hurre Human Rights Focus. 2007-01-26. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  5. ↑ Khalif, Abdulkadir (2007-01-29). "West ‘backing the wrong horse’ in Mogadishu peace initiatives". The East African. Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Levy, Oscar (2009-05-09). "Svensk shejk hugger av tjuvens hand" (in Swedish). Nyheter24. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  7. ↑ Fox news: "Somali extremist leader threatens US, Kenya, Uganda with more attacks" May 22, 2014
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