by CHRISTOPHE AYAD
Abdel Hakim Belhadj, 45, is one of the most powerful men of the new Libya. From this point on, the security of Tripoli depends on him. This former jihadist, arrested by the CIA and secretly handed over to the Gaddafi regime in 2004, is the commander-in-chief of the rebel forces in the Libyan capital.
This man, who expresses himself in a low, gravely voice, gives off an undeniable charisma. Stocky, his forehead lined with wrinkles, his face marked by a well-groomed, black beard, Belhadj is dressed in military fatigues. He has agreed to an interview with Le Monde, in which he retraces his past two decades jihad in Afghanistan to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, in order to answer the accusations of those who see in him the fingerprints of Al Qaeda.
Do you belong to Al Qaeda?
A lot of false information is circulating concerning this subject. Yes, I was a member of the Islamic Fighting Group whose area of operation was always and exclusively Libya. The goal of this organization was to deliver the Libyan people from the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. We never had any interest outside of our country. The Islamic combat group was never a part of Al Qaeda, neither from an ideological viewpoint, nor at an operational level, nor in its goals. It happened that we found ourselves in the same place at the same time as Al Qaeda: in Afghanistan, where we sometimes fought next to them when it was to liberate the country, but we were never at their service.
On the contrary, when Osama Bin Laden founded the Global Islamic Front to fight against the Jews and crusaders, in the autumn of 1998, we refused to become members of it. How could we want to kill all Christians? Or all Jews? That’s absurd! And why not the Chinese or Japanese? Christians and Jews are the people of the Book, we have to protect them.
Your time in Afghanistan arouses some concerns…
I was forced into exile, I didn’t have a choice! In Libya, we were living under a dictatorial regime that did not permit any sort of freedom of thought or expression. That’s why I founded, with a group of young people, in the 1980s, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. We had no other choice but armed combat. The Gaddafi regime wanted to destroy us. I thus left my country for Saudi Arabia in 1988 and, from there, I went to Afghanistan. When the Afghan mujahideen took Kabul in 1992, I left the country.
And then?
Then I travelled. To Turkey, to Sudan, and other countries as well.
Have you ever been arrested and detained by the CIA?
In March 2004 I was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia at the request of Libyan intelligence agency. I was transferred to Bangkok where I was put back into custody of the CIA who has a secret prison at the airport. There, I was interrogated for several days. I can no longer remember how long, I lost consciousness many times. My wife, six months pregnant, was also arrested.