Abdelhakim Belhaj (or Belhadj; ar, عبد الحكيم بلحاج,

nom de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

: Abu Abdallah Assadaq) (born 1 May 1966) is a Libyan politician and military leader. He is the leader of the Islamist al-Watan Party and former head of the Tripoli Military Council. He was the

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

of the defunct

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known as ''Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya'' ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا), was an armed Islamist group. Militants participated in the 2011 Liby ...

, an anti-Gaddafi guerrilla group. As of June 2017, following the

2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis The Qatar diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic incident in the Middle East that began on 5 June 2017 when Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia#Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Qatar–United Arab Emirates relations, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain–Qatar relat ...

, Belhadj was placed on a terrorist watchlist on suspicion of terrorism and terrorist related activities with ties to Qatari support for such, by a number of nations, which include, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Libya's

Tobruk government The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) ( ar, مجلس النواب, translit=Majlis al-Nuwaab, translation=Council of Deputies) is the legislature of Libya resulting from the 2014 Libyan parliamentary election, which had an 18% turnout. In ...

, as some supporting this claim.

Early life

Born on 1 May 1966 in the

Souq al Jum'aa Sūq al-Jum'a (also Soug el Giuma, Soug El Juma’aa, or Sough el Giumaa ( Arabic : سوق الجمعة ), literally "Friday Market") is a district of Tripoli, Libya, located 5 km east of Tripoli and now incorporated into the greater metropol ...

area of

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, Belhaj studied at Al Fateh University, where he earned a

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

degree. During the years after his studying, he is said to have travelled extensively, spending time in Sudan, Turkey, Pakistan, Syria, as well as London and Denmark.

Libya, Afghanistan/Soviet war, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group

Wanting to rid Libya of Colonel Gaddafi, Belhaj joined other young Islamists who formed a group, but were chased from the country before they could achieve anything. Leaving the country via

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

he arrived in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, in 1988, and became an Islamist fighter in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

. In 1992, after the

Mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...

took

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, he travelled across the Middle East and Eastern Europe, before returning to Libya in 1992. There he and others formed the

(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.

Arrest in Bangkok, return to Libya via CIA rendition

Some of the former guerrilla fighters joined the

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

ranks and contributed to the growth of al-Qaeda in

. Several LIFG fighters also held prominent positions within al-Qaeda's leadership. A report published on 13 October 2014 by the

American Center for Democracy American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and authored by J. Millard Burr posited that in 1996 Balhadj followed Bin Laden when al-Qaeda leader moved the centre of its operations from Afghanistan to Sudan.Burr, J. Millard (13 October 2014). "Libya – Ali al-Salabi and the Re-Emerging Muslim Brotherhood". American Center for Democracy. The relation between LIGF and al-Qaeda was officially confirmed in October 2001, when the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

designated the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group as a terrorist entity for its association with al-Qaeda,

Bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated a ...

and the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

. The UN Security Council specified that the LIFG relation with al-Qaeda was substantiated through the group's involvement in "the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to" or "otherwise supporting acts or activities of ... Al-Qaida ..., Usama bin Laden and the Taliban." In 2002, after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

and Gaddafi's reconciliation with the West, an arrest warrant was issued for Belhadj by the Libyan authorities. In it, it was alleged by the Gaddafi government that Belhadj had developed "close relationships" with

leaders, and specifically Taliban chief

Mullah Omar Mullah Muhammad Omar (; –April 2013) was an Afghan Islamic revolutionary who founded the Taliban and served as the supreme leader of Afghanistan from Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), 1996 to 2001. Born into a religious family of ...

. Based in Jalalabad, he is alleged to have run and financed training camps for Arab mujahideen fighters. 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. However, the remaining LIFG affiliates merged with al-Qaeda in 2007, as announced by Bin Laden's deputy

Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death. Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with ...

and LIFG senior operative

Abu Laith al-Liby Abu al-Layth Ali Ammar Ashur al-Libi ( ar, أبو الليث على عمار عاشور الليبي, translit=ʾAbū al-Layth ʿAlī ʿAmmār ʿĀshūr al-Lībī; 1 January 196729 January 2008) was a Libyan militant who was a leader of al-Qaeda ...

in two video clips released by

Al-Sahab As-Sahab Media (Arabic: السحاب, "The Cloud") is the official media wing of Al-Qaeda’s core leadership based in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It produces media featuring original sermons and speeches by senior Al-Qaeda commanders as well as f ...

, the media production house of al-Qaeda. Tracked by the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA), after a tip-off from the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

(MI6) gained from London-based informants, Belhadj was arrested with his pregnant wife in 2004 at

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

International Airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

, Malaysia. Transferred on the same plane to

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, he was then placed in the custody of the CIA, where he was retained at a

secret prison In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with a ...

at the airport. Returned to Libya on the

rendition aircraft This page describes several aircraft that are alleged in media reports to have been used in the practice of extraordinary rendition, the extralegal transfer of prisoners from one country to another. N313P N313P was a tailnumber assigned to a Boe ...

N313P, he was held at the

Abu Salim prison Abu Salim prison ( ar, سجن أبو سليم) is a maximum security prison in Tripoli, Libya. The prison was notorious during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi for alleged mistreatment and human rights abuses, including a massacre in 1996 in which H ...

for seven years. However, his wife Fatima was quickly released after receiving

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

. In March 2010 under a "de-radicalisation" drive championed by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan authorities released him amongst 170 other Libyan Islamists. Belhadj's release was part of a series of negotiations supported by the Qatari government, thanks to which over a hundred members of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

and hundreds of members of the LIFG were freed by 2008. Belhadj's long-time associate

Ali al-Sallabi Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, or ''al-Salabi'' ( ar, علي محمد الصلابي; born 1963 in Benghazi) is a Muslim historian, religious scholar and Islamist Ali al-Sallabi is a Libyan religious scholar and Islamist politician affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood who was jailed for his supposed involvement in a plot to assassinate Muammar Gaddafi. He then left Libya to study in Saudi Arabia and Sudan, and eventually moved to Qatar in the late 1990s. In Qatar, Sallabi was welcomed by the Qatari ruling family as well as by the Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Returned to Libya after the lifting of sanctions on the Libyan regime in 2003, Sallabi actively contributed to and eventually directed the de-radicalization program for former militant detainees. In March 2011, Belhadj appeared in an unreleased

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate 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." In December 2011, Belhajd was reported to have begun legal proceedings against the British government over its role in his rendition to Libya. Jack Straw is reported to have denied any illegality in his actions as

foreign secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

in the face of accusations that he had approved the British assistance in Belhadj's capture;

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

continues to deny any memory of the incident. In December 2013, a high court judge struck out Belhadj's case against the British government, on the grounds that if it were allowed to proceed it could potentially damage British national interests. At an Investigatory Powers Tribunal in January 2014, his lawyers said they had reason to suspect that GCHQ had been intercepting their phone calls with Libya-based Belhadj, and noted: "The right to confidential client-lawyer communication is a fundamental principle of justice." This later turned out to be the case, and but one case of many. "In how many cases has the government eavesdropped to give itself an unfair advantage in court?" wondered

Dinah Rose Dinah Gwen Lison Rose KC (born 16 July 1965) is a British barrister. She has been President of Magdalen College, Oxford since 2020. A member of Blackstone Chambers, she was named Barrister of the Year in ''The Lawyer'' Awards 2009. In 2016, she ...

, QC for Belhadj. In 2015, GCHQ was ordered to destroy legally privileged material of another Libyan rendition victim, Sami al-Saadi, that it had illegally intercepted. In October 2016 Belhadj appealed the dismissal of charges against

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

, who was the director counter-terrorism for MI6 when he was subjected to extraordinary rendition. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges against Allen in 2014, claiming they had insufficient evidence, even though the Metropolitan Police had provided them with a 28,000-page dossier. Belhadj's appeal relies on communication from Allen, found in the offices of Moussa Koussa the head of Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence service, after those offices were stormed by opposition forces, when Gaddafi was overthrown. In one letter Allen wrote: "I congratulate you on the safe arrival of elhaj This was the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over recent years."

Libyan civil war

Belhadj was made commander of the Tripoli Military Council, after the rebels took over

during Operation Mermaid Dawn in late August 2011. A Kronos Advisory report stressed that on the 22 August takeover of Tripoli Belhadj was accompanied by Qatari staff Col. Hamad Abdullah al-Marri. In fact, Qatar had provided training, financial and military support to Belhadj's troops. Rebels under the leadership of Belhadj were trained by Qatari special forces in Western Mountains, in Libya, and were the beneficiaries of dozens of weapons shipments financed by Qatar. Overall, ''Wall Street Journal'' columnists Sam Dagher, Charles Levinson, and Margaret Coker reported that "Qatar provided anti-Gadhafi rebels with what Libyan officials now estimate are tens of millions of dollars in aid, military training and more than 20,000 tons of weapons." Most of the shipments – the reporters stressed – went directly to rebel forces such as Belhadj's group rather than being regularly processed through the National Transitional Council. Qatar was one of the first countries to recognize the National Transitional Council and strongly advocated for international support – especially from the Arab League – for the no-fly zone imposed by the UN to protect civilians in Libya. The country even provided fighter jets to implement the UN resolution and "offered financial guarantees to NATO if the war dragged on." Belhadj, already in charge of coordinating defense under the Tripoli Military Council, was eventually appointed a member of the Supreme Security Council at a later stage of the 2011 revolution. In this capacity he reportedly went to Qatar with Ali al-Sallabi, brother and founder of the 17 February Brigades Ismail al-Sallabi, and the head of the National Transitional Council in Libya,

Ghoulioune Abdel Jelil Mustafa Abdul Jalil ( ar, مصطفى عبد الجليل; also transcribed ''Abdul-Jelil, Abd-al-Jalil'', ''Abdel-Jalil'', ''Abdeljalil'' or ''Abdu Al Jeleil''; born 1952) is a Libyan politician who was the Chairman of the National Transitional ...

. In Qatar, according to Kronos Advisory reports, they met with "the financiers of the revolution and NATO officials." The goal of the meeting was to convince Western officials to extend NATO operations to implement additional measures to protect civilians. After the rebels had completed their take over of Tripoli, a joint rebel/

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' and

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

Jeremy Bowen Jeremy Francis John Bowen (born 6 February 1960) is a Welsh journalist and television presenter. He was the BBC's Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem between 1995 and 2000 and the BBC Middle East editor from 2005 to 2022, before being ...

, Belhadj showed the journalists documents relating to his case, and further co-operation between the CIA/MI6 and Libyan security forces under the command of Moussa Koussa. In a later interview with the captured

Abdelati Obeidi Abdul Ati al-Obeidi (; ar, عبد العاطي العبيدي; born 10 October 1939) is a Libyan politician and diplomat. He held various top posts in Libya under Muammar Gaddafi; he was Prime Minister from 1977 to 1979 and General Secretary of G ...

, the former Libyan foreign minister under Gaddafi, commented that MI6 had been operating in Tripoli until the start of the revolution in February. As a result of the allegations, British Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

made a statement in the House of Commons, which ordered the inquiry under

Sir Peter Gibson Sir Peter Leslie Gibson (born 10 June 1934), is a former British barrister and Lord Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, and is currently a judge of the Qatar International Court. Gibson has also served, between April ...

, the current UK

Intelligence Services Commissioner The Intelligence Services Commissioner, was a regulatory official in the United Kingdom appointed under Section 59 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. They are tasked with reviewing actions and warrants taken by the Secretary of Sta ...

, to be widened to cover the Libyan allegations. Several politicians and experts have claimed that Qatar was exploiting Belhadj to seek influence in Libya and to provide support to the Islamist faction in the country. Reuters reported former Prime Minister of Libya Mahmoud Jibril praising Qatar's military support but also warning of Qatar allegedly "siding with a faction against the rest of the Libyan people." Belhadj has denied that accusation.

Alleged ties with Ansar al-Sharia

In a 2013 report, Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow Daveed Gartenstein-Ross reported presumed links between Belhadj and Ansar al-Sharia, the Tunisian salafi jihadist group. Gartenstein-Ross wrote that a Tunisian investigator accused Abdelhakim Belhadj of sheltering Ansar al-Sharia leader Abu Iyadh al-Tunisi after the murder of two Tunisian opposition leaders Chokri Belaïd and Mohamed Brahmi. Ansar al-Sharia is regarded as responsible for the assassination of the two politicians. In addition to Belhadj's alleged implication in both murders, Tunisian attorney and investigator Taieb Laguili argued that the Libyan politician had long-standing ties with Ansar al-Sharia leadership and had trained Ansar al-Sharia members. Laguili posited that Belhadj's connection with the terrorist group as well as his ties to "a group of Tunisian and Libyan smugglers" were confirmed by the Tunisian interior ministry. Allegedly, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group intended to "finance and arm Tunisian salafist elements for the purpose of connecting religious extremist currents under the same banner to create an Islamic state in North Africa."

Politics

Belhadj resigned his leadership of the Tripoli Military Council on 14 May 2012, to begin his campaign for the Public National Conference elections. After launching the al-Wattan Party in the week of 20 May, he ran for office as its leader. The party won no seats, however.

Family

Abdelhakim Belhadj had at least one brother, Younis Belhaj, who became a senior figure in the Tripoli Council. His wife Fatima Boudchar is of Moroccan descent. Belhadj also has a son Abderrahim, who was born shortly after Fatima's release from prison in 2004.

Apology

On 10 May 2018, British Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

issued an official letter of apology for MI6's role in tipping off the CIA of Belhadj's location before the American-based spy agency captured him and his family and transferred them into Libyan custody. At the time, both Britain and America were seeking to mend relations with the Gaddafi regime and documents later showed that both nations saw Belhadj as a threat to these aspirations. The documents released in 2018 were originally recovered by a team from Human Rights Watch who raided the abandoned headquarters of Libyan's External Security Organisation (ESO) in 2011 after Gaddafi's downfall and showed that former British Prime Minister

had been reaching out to Gaddafi ally Moussa Koussa since 2001 and that Koussa had also informed him that Gaddafi would mend relations with Britain if the country guaranteed him respect and gave him intelligence leading to the capture of LIFG leaders on the run, notably Belhadj. The British government also agreed to give Belhadj and his family £500,000 in compensation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belhaj, Abdelhakim 1966 births Living people University of Tripoli alumni Libyan civil engineers Libyan Islamists Mujahideen members of the Soviet–Afghan War People of the First Libyan Civil War Homeland Party (Libya) politicians People from Tripoli