(ANSA) – CAIRO, APRIL 23 – A well-known former Islamist fighter and leader, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, has returned to Libya after years of self-imposed exile in Qatar. Belhaj arrived in Tripoli on Thursday evening and was escorted to a house by a group of armed vehicles as reported today by The Libya Update website.
The 55-year-old’s “surprise” return comes in the midst of political turmoil linked to the rivalry between the two ‘parallel’ Libyan prime ministers Fathi Bashagha and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, notes the site.
“Many” consider his arrival in Tripoli as “a sign of escalation” since Abdelhakim Belhaj is known for having been active in the “Lifg”, “a terrorist group that has had links with Al-Qaeda,” recalls the Libya Update. In an Italian judicial act five years ago he was even “indicated as the head of Daesh in the Maghreb”, therefore of ISIS in North Africa. Information denied by the jihadists themselves, for whom Belhaj is an “apostate” and “one of the evils of the country”.
When the Lifg (English acronym for “Islamic Fighting Group in Libya”) was crushed by the forces of then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Belhaj fled to Thailand where he was then arrested and tortured by the CIA before being handed over to Libya in 2004, he still remembers. the site. He remained imprisoned until his release in 2010 thanks to a “deradicalization” promoted by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the colonel’s dolphin son.
While praising Saif al-Islam’s mediation for his release, Belhaj led a group of anti-Gaddafi militias in Tripoli during the first Libyan civil war in 2011, helping to end the dictator’s 42-year reign.
The fighter then entered politics, launching the Al-Watan Party in view of the 2012 parliamentary elections, in which, however, he was unable to win any seats. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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