Hicham Chaïeb (Jihadi Militant, Belgium)

• Full name: Hicham Chaïeb
• Pseudonym: Abu Hanifa
• Alternatives: N/a
• Location: Syria, fmr Belgium
• Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], fmr Shari’a for Belgium Movement [Sh4B]

Hicham Chaïeb (°1981) is a notorious Moroccan-Belgian jihadi from Antwerp. He enjoyed an uneventful youth, but eventually grew attracted to radical Salafism.¹

In the early 2010s, Chaïeb joined the Shari’a for Belgium Movement [Sh4B]. He acted as Sh4B leader Fouad Belkacem’s bodyguard and soon became an influential member of the movement.² He participated in the 2012 riots in the Brussels’ suburb of Molenbeek.³ Following the arrest of Belkacem in June 2012, Chaïeb was one of the Sh4B members who helped manage the movement.⁴

In September 2012, Chaïeb was organized a protest against an anti-Islam film in the Antwerp suburb of Borgerhout which descended into confrontations with the police.⁵ On Sep. 20, he was arrested for his role inciting the Sh4B protesters.⁶ The authorities conditionally released Chaïeb in November 2012.⁷ Soon after he was freed, he traveled to Syria.⁸ A court sentenced him in absentia to one year in prison in April 2013.

Chaïeb joined the Holy Warriors Consultative Council [MSM; Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen]. He was very active on social media and actively recruited Belgian jihadis to fight in Syria.⁹ After joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham] in 2013, Chaïeb became an occasional spokesperson for the organization.¹⁰ He first appeared in a DaIISh propaganda movie in August 2014.¹¹

In February 2015, a court in Antwerp sentenced Chaïeb in absentia to fifteen years in prison for his involvement in terrorism.¹²

In the meanwhile, the DaIISh appointed Chaïeb as the head of its religious police in Raqqa in January 2015.¹³ In that capacity, he oversaw the enforcement of Shari’a law in the organization’s de-facto capital. In March 2016, Chaïeb claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings and threatened further attacks against Belgium in a propaganda video released by the DaIISh.¹⁴ At the end of the video, he executed a hostage.¹⁵

Chaïeb is apparently involved in continued attempts to launch new attacks in Belgium. He was reported to have directed a cell of local jihadis who planned to bomb Antwerp’s main railway station.¹⁶ Belgian security forces rolled up the module in May 2016.¹⁷