| Libyan Fighting Group (Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya) | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Abdelhakim Belhadj |
| Dates of operation | 1990[1]–2017 |
| Allegiance | Libya Dawn Coalition |
| Motives | OverthrowMuammar Gaddafi and establish an Islamic state.[2] |
| Active regions |  Libya |
| Ideology | Salafi jihadism Qutbism |
| Means of revenue | Mohammed Benhammedi[citation needed] Sanabal Charitable Committee |
| Designated as a terrorist group by |  Delisted in 2017 by theDepartment of State[3] Delisted in 2019 by theHome Office[4] Sanctioned by theUN 1267 Committee.[5] |
TheLibyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known asAl-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya (Arabic:الجماعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا), was an armed Islamist group. Militants participated in the2011 Libyan Civil War as theLibyan Islamic Movement (al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya), and are involved in theLibyan Civil War as members of theLibya Shield Force. Alleged militants include allegedAl Qaeda organizerAbd al-Muhsin Al-Libi who now holds a key command position in theLibya Shield Force.
In the 2011 civil war, members claim to have played a key role in deposingMuammar Gaddafi. The force was part of theNational Transitional Council.
However the organisation has a troubled history being under pressure fromMuammar Gaddafi and shortly after theSeptember 11 attacks, LIFG was banned worldwide (as an affiliate ofal-Qaeda) by theUN 1267 Committee.[5][6] Listed at the Foreign Terrorist Organizations,[7] the group has denied ever being affiliated with al-Qaeda, stating that it refused to join the global Islamic frontOsama bin Laden declared against the west in 1998.[8]
LIFG was founded in 1990 by Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, but only revealed its existence publicly in 1995. Its objective was to establish anIslamic state inLibya. According to theCanadian Security Intelligence Service, the group viewed the Gaddafi regime as oppressive and anti-Muslim, and aimed to overthrow it.[9] The group's first armed action came in Benghazi on September 6-7, 1995, resulting in the deaths of some 30 individuals.[10] LIFG claimed responsibility for a failed assassination attempt against Gaddafi in February 1996, which was in part funded byMI6 according toDavid Shayler, and engaged Libyan security forces in armed clashes during the mid-to-late 1990s.[11] They continued to target Libyan interests and engaged in sporadic clashes with Libyan security forces.[12]
Adnkronos International reported that the group was founded inAfghanistan byAbu Laith Al Libi and other veterans ofSoviet occupation of Afghanistan.[13]
The LIFG links to Al-Qaeda hail from Afghanistan, where hundreds joined Al-Qaeda. High ranking LIFG operatives inside Al-Qaeda, are the leader of the insurgency Abdel-Hakim Belhadj (also known as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq), and the recently killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who was killed in a CIA drone strike, and Al-Qaeda's Abu Yahya al-Libi.[14]
The Telegraph reported that senior Al Qaeda membersAbu Yahya al-Libi andAbu Laith al-Libi were LIFG members.[15] One of al-Qaeda's most senior members,Atiyah Abdul-Rahman, was purportedly a member of LIFG as well.[16]
In an audio message published in November 2007Ayman al-Zawahiri andAbu Laith al-Libi claimed that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had joined al-Qaeda.[13][17][18] "Benotman fired back an open letter to Zawahiri questioning his credibility. "I questioned their idea of jihad ... directly you know. This is crazy, it is not Islamic and it's against the Sunni understanding of Islam," Benotman told CNN. Zawahiri chose not to respond. As late as this August Zawahiri's video statements included praise of LIFG leaders, in what may have been a desperate attempt to head off the condemnation he could see coming."[19]
In November 2007Noman Benotman, described as the "ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group", published on open letter toal-Qaeda.[20][21][22] According toThe Times:[21]
In November last year Noman Benotman, ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which is trying to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, published a letter which asked Al-Qaeda to give up all its operations in the Islamic world and in the West, adding that ordinary westerners were blameless and should not be attacked.
Noman Benotman's letter toZawahiri was published in Akhbar Libya (News) as an op-ed clarification in November 2007. The gist is that al-Qaeda's efforts have been counterproductive and used as "subterfuge" by some Western countries to extend their regional ambitions. These comments were first aired at a meeting inKandahar in thesummer of 2000.[23]
On 10 July 2009,The Telegraph reported that some member organisations of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had split with Al Qaeda.[15]
On 10 October 2005, theUnited Kingdom's Home Office banned LIFG and fourteen other militant groups from operating in the UK. Under the United Kingdom'sTerrorism Act 2000, being a member of a LIFG is punishable with a 10-year prison term.[24] TheFinancial Sanctions Unit of the Bank of England acting on behalf ofHM Treasury issued the orders to freeze all their assets.[25] Mohammed Benhammedi lived and worked inLiverpool at the time of the UN sanction against him. Sergey Zakurko, the father to his Lithuanian mistress was suspended from his job at theIgnalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) for fear that the link could pose a security threat.[26]
The group was delisted from the United Kingdom proscribed organizations list in November 2019.[27]
On 7 February 2006 the UN embargoed five specific LIFG members and four corporations, all of whom had continued to operate in England until at least October 2005. Those nine are in the following table; the accusations are according to the US State Department.[28]
| Abd Al-Rahman Al-Faqih | عبد الرحمن الفقيه | Possibly the same person as the jihadist writer Abdul-Rahman Hasan.[29] Wanted inMorocco in connection with the mass murders of 16 May 2003 inCasablanca. Al-Faqih was convicted in 2006 of possessing documents related to terrorism.[30] |
| Ghuma Abd'rabbah | غومه عبد الرباح | Trustee of the Sanabel terrorist charity, by which he transferred money and travel documents to terrorists abroad. |
| Abdulbaqi Mohammed Khaled | عبد الباقي محمد خالد | Trustee of the Sanabel terrorist charity;GIA affiliate. |
| Mohammed Benhammedi | محمد بن حامدي | Financier of LIFG. |
| Tahir Nasuf | طاهر ناصف | Previously of the LibyanGIA circle in the UK. He denied any relation with the LIFG.[30][failed verification] Nasuf was removed from the UN list 1267 list a few years later, at the British government's request.[31] |
| Sara Properties Limited | Source of some of Benhammedi's money. | |
| Meadowbrook Investments Limited | Source of some of Benhammedi's money. | |
| Ozlam Properties Limited | Source of some of Benhammedi's money. | |
| Sanabel Relief Agency Limited | Alias SARA, a charity front by which LIFG transacted with other al-Qaeda components (includingGICM) via its office inKabul, prior to the fall of theTaliban. |
Al-Faqih, Nasuf, and a third man appealed being listed.[32][33][34] Their appeal went all the way to theEuropean Union's Court, which ordered the UK to delist the men, and return their passports.
The "Summary of Evidence" fromMohammed Fenaitel Mohamed Al Daihani'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal states: "TheSanabal Charitable Committee is considered a fund raising front for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group."[35]
In June 2011, all of the entities included in the table above were de-listed by the United Nations Security Council Committee.[36]
In September 2009 a new "code" for jihad, a 417-page religious document entitled "Corrective Studies", was published after more than two years of intense and secret talks between incarcerated leaders of the LIFG and Libyan security officials.
On 9 April 2008,Al Jazeera reported that Libya released at least over 90 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.[13][18] TheItalian press agencyAdnkronos International reported the release was due to the efforts ofSaif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and leader of the charityGaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations. It reported that a third of the LIFG members Libya was holding were released. A further 200 prisoners were released in March 2010, including group leaderAbdelhakim Belhadj.[37][38]
In January 2011 members of the group threatened a return to violence unless still imprisoned members were released.[39]
In March 2011, members of the LIFG inAjdabiya declared to the press that the group supports the revolt against Gaddafi's rule, and had placed themselves under the leadership of theNational Transitional Council. They also stated that the group had changed its name toLibyan Islamic Movement (al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya), had around 500–600 militants released from jail in recent years, and denied any past or present affiliation with Al-Qaeda.[40]
A leader of the LIFG,Abdelhakim Belhadj, became the commander of the Tripoli Military Council after the rebels took overTripoli during the2011 Battle of Tripoli. In March 2011,Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, a leading member of the group, admit to the Italian newspaperIl Sole 24 Ore that his fighters had al-Qaeda links.[41] Al-Hasidi was captured in 2002 inPeshwar,Pakistan, later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008. He admit in the same interview that he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" of Afghanistan.[41]
In September 2011, Ismail Sallabi (a leader of LIFG) said in an interview toThe Washington Post: "We want [Libyan Islamic Movement] to be a good government that comes from Islam, that respects human rights and personal freedoms," "The Islamic way is not something dangerous or wrong. The West hears 'Islamic law' and they think we want to lock our women in boxes," "The Islamic groups want a democratic country, and they want to go to the mosque without being arrested. They're looking for freedom like everyone else."[42]
Countries and organizations below have officially listed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group as a terrorist organization.
| Country | Date | References |
| United Kingdom | October 2005 (until November 2019)[27] | [43] |
| United States | 17 December 2004 (until 9 December 2015) | [44] |
We want to help take our country from the revolutionary stage to the stage of rebuilding the nation, says al-Madhouni. "At that point we will hand over our weapons, when the LNC demands it." ... The Libyan National Council says its vision is of a democratic Libya... "As long as this democracy is not against Islam, we will accept it. What we are looking for is a state that respects Islam as the religion of the people. Anything that goes against Islam, we will refuse it."
Both reject claims the LIFG has been affiliated with al-Qaeda, noting that the group refused to join the global Islamic front Osama bin Laden declared against the west in 1998.
The group was formed in the mid-1990s in Afghanistan by some veterans of the war against the Soviet forces.
In November last year Noman Benotman, ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which is trying to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, published a letter which asked Al-Qaeda to give up all its operations in the Islamic world and in the West, adding that ordinary westerners were blameless and should not be attacked.
Al Bashir Mohammed al Faqih, 47, of Hall Green, Birmingham, admitting possessing documents on how to make explosives and set up a terror cell.
Last week the European Court of Justice ordered the British government to overturn the decision. Ministers are currently considering whether to appeal.
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| National | |
