Inside Libya

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Conservative Middle East Council INSIDE LIBYA: CHAOS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Sadiq Al Ghariani Sheikh Sadiq Al Ghariani, the grand mufti, is Libya’s highest spiritual leader. Born in Al Bayda, Ghariani is an outspoken Salafist-oriented leader, who supported the anti-Gaddafi uprising as legitimate and was later appointed to the Dar Al Ifta, Libya’s leading religious authority. He argued that voting for parties that wanted to restrict sharia to be ‘un-Islamic’. In 2013, Gharianai issued a fatwa banning unaccompanied women from travelling. The following year, Ghariani issued inflammatory statements in support of Libya Dawn and was accused of directing operations from London. Ghariani is strongly opposed to the GNA and is an ally of Khalifa Ghwell. He has also called for a jihad against Field Marshal Haftar. Khalifa Ghwell Khalifa Ghwell is the Prime Minister of the defunct Government of National Salvation, which rests on the rump of the dissolved GNC. A former engineer from the city of Misrata, Ghwell was appointed Prime Minister after Omar Al Hassi’s dismissal in March 2015. Ghwell is openly hostile to the GNA and has refused to accept their authority. In October 2016 and January 2017, militias aligned to Ghwell launched two unsuccessful coups against the GNA. The newly formed LNG - comprising of militias from Misrata and Amazigh – has backed the Government of National Salvation. In February 2017, forces aligned to Ghwell launched an unsuccessful assassination attempt on GNA Prime Minister, Fayez Serraj. Ali Al Sallabi Ali Al Sallabi is a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and Al Watan (Homeland) Party. The son of a founding member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Benghazi, Sallabi spent eight years in the Abu Slim prison under Gaddafi. After which he lived in exile in Qatar and later negotiated with the Gaddafi regime on behalf of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Sallabi is closely tied to Abdul hakim Belhadj and was influential during the 2011 revolution, supporting the Tripoli Military Council and criticising the National Transitional Council (NTC) as ‘secular’. He is connected to controversial Muslim Brotherhood leader, Yusuf Al Qaradawi who has been accused of having links to terrorist groups. Sallabi is considered to be an important Islamist power broker and has been consulted by UN Special Representative Martin Kobler. Former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) The LIFG is a defunct Islamist group formed in the 1990s with the aim of overthrowing the Gaddafi regime. Many of its fighters joined the Afghan Mujahidin against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. On return to Libya, the group launched an insurgency campaign and attempted to assassinate Gaddafi on three occasions. In retaliation, the regime killed and imprisoned many of its fighters in Abu Slim. Several LIFG leaders escaped to Afghanistan where they formed ties with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. During the late 2000s, the regime released many of the LIFG’s leadership after negotiations Ali Al Sallabi. Many of these figures rose to prominence in the 2011 revolution and later became involved in Libya’s political transition participating in elections and serving in the government. The LIFG was, at the very least, loosely connected to Al Qaeda. While the leadership never publically supported Al Qaeda’s campaign against the West, and in fact, denounced a suggestion that the LIFG joined Al Qaeda in 2007, numerous LIFG members did join Al Qaeda’s ranks. One of whom, Abu Yahya Al Libi was Al Qaeda’s deputy leader. Abdel hakim Belhadj aka Abu Abdullah Al Sadiq Abdel hakim Belhadj is a former Islamist commander and current leader of the Al Watan Party. The Tripolitan participated in the Afghan war against the Soviet Union and later developed ties to both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. He was emir of the now defunct LIFG whose aim was to overthrow the Gaddafi regime. In 2004, Belhadj was arrested in a joint CIA-MI6 operation in Thailand and rendered back to Libya. He spent seven years in the Abu Slim prison. After the fall of the regime, Belhadj left the Tripoli Military Council to unsuccessfully contest the GNC elections in 2012. He took part in the dialogue that resulted in the United Nations backed Libyan Political Agreement in 2015. Belhadj is reported to have vast business interests including: health care, property, air transport and media. In January 2017, the British Supreme Court ruled that Belhadj was entitled to pursue legal action against the Government for authorising his rendition to Libya. 12
Sami Al Saadi Sami Al Saadi is a former high ranking member of the LIFG and founder of the Umma al Wasat (Moderate nation) party. In 1988, the Tripolitan left for Afghanistan where he participated in the war against the Soviet Union. He was described as the LIFG’s ‘key ideologue’ and was reportedly christened the ‘sheikh of the Arabs’ by former Taliban commander Mullah Omar. In 2004, Saadi was arrested in a joint UK-US operation and rendered to Libya where he subsequently tortured at the hands of the regime. Saadi spent the next six years in prison before his release in 2010. In December 2012, the UK government paid Saadi £2.2 million in compensation but did not accept liability for his rendition. When Abdel hakim Belhadj formed the Al Watan party, Saad formed a rival more ‘Islamic’ Umma al Wasat party. In 2012 elections, his party came third in the capital. He joined Prime Minister Zeidan’s cabinet but resigned months later. Khaled Al Sharif A noted Islamist from Tripoli, Khaled Al Sharif was the deputy emir of the LIFG and spent time in Afghanistan until the United States’ intervention in 2001. In April 2003, Al Sharif was captured in Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan accused of having ties to Al Qaeda. After spending two years in a detention centre in Afghanistan, Sharif was rendered to Libya in 2005 where he spent the next five years in prison. During the revolution, Sharif formed the National Guard militia, which aimed to prevent the escape of Gaddafi loyalists and imprisoned them in its own detention centres. In early 2013, Al Sharif was appointed Deputy Defence Minister in charge of borders and protection of key facilities. He was later sacked after reportedly being involved with arming militia groups. In 2014, forces under his command participated in the Libya Dawn operation in Tripoli. Mohammed Abu Sidra Mohammed Abu Sidra is an Islamist leader from Benghazi was a GNC Member of Parliament. He was imprisoned as a regime opponent under Colonel Gaddafi. Field Marshal Haftar accused Sidra of supporting Islamic terrorism. Abdel Wahab Mohamed Qaid aka Abu Idris Al Libi Abdel Wahab Mohamed Qaid was the sixth highest ranking member of the LIFG, (and brother of late Abu Yahya Libi, the deputy leader of Al Qaeda). After spells in Tunisia, Pakistan and other Islamists training grounds, Qaid returned to Libya in 1995 where he was arrested by the Gaddafi regime and spent the next 16 years in the Abu Slim prison. In 2011, he participated in the anti-Gaddafi uprising. Qaid joined the Umma al Wasat party and in 2012 was elected to the GNC representing his home city of Murzuq. In Congress he led the hard-line Islamic and Salafist political bloc, Al Wafa (the Blood of the Martyrs). Other prominent militia groups • Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council (a coalition of Islamist militias operating largely in eastern Libya, including Ansar Al Sharia, the 17 February Brigade and the Rafallah Al Sahati Brigade) • Derna Mujahidin Shura Council (Derna, eastern Libya) • Islamist Ajdabiya Revolutionaries Shura Council (Ajdabiya, north-eastern Libya) • Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigade (Tripoli) • Special Deterrent Force (Tripoli) It should be noted that many of the groups which started in the East, such as the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, now operate in the west of Libya. Most of the militia leaders mentioned in this survey are now based in Tripoli, Misrata and the west of the country.
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