Abdelkader Hakimi (Jihadi Militant, Belgium)

• Full name: Abdelkader Hakimi
• Pseudonym: Saïd el-Ibrahimi, Ahmed Mahd Abu Shabab, Ikachrami Lesfarayini, Sakho Inijay, Saïd Yahya
• Alternatives: N/a
• Location: Syria, Belgium, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Morocco
• Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], GMIC Maaseik Remnant Network [GMRN], fmr Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group [GICM]

Abdelkader Hakimi (°1965) is a Belgium-based Moroccan terrorist and former senior leader of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group [GICM; Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain]. He was seen as heading the group’s activities in Europe.¹ He was also responsible for the group’s security affairs.²

As a young man, Hakimi was a member of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Youth [JMIC; Jeunesse Marocaine Islamique Combatant]. He was sentenced to death in absentia by the Moroccan authorities in 1985.³ Hakimi fled the country to Algeria where he resided about ten years.⁴ In 1987, he visited Libya to study at an Islamic seminary.⁵ Between 1995 and 1996, Hakimi fought in the ranks of the jihadis in the Bosnian war. In the late 1990s, he traveled to Libya, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Botswana, Swaziland and Burkina Faso.⁶

Hakimi also traveled to Afghanistan in same period where he is thought to have received training at a camp operated by al-Qa’ida.⁷ At the same time, he joined the GICM and became an influential figure in the organization’s branches in Europe. Although his exact role is unclear, Hakimi was linked to the 2003 Dar el-Beida suicide attacks⁸ in which 33 people were killed. He was also seen as one of the architects of the Mar. 11, 2004 bombings on trains in and around Madrid.⁹ These attacks left 192 people dead.

Belgian authorities arrested Hakimi in June 2004 during a crackdown on the GICM’s network in the country.¹⁰ He was given a seven-year prison sentence by a court in February 2006.¹¹ Hakimi was freed from prison in November 2011 following an order by the European Court for Human Rights.¹² After his release, he quickly reconnected with his former comrades and became a member of the GICM Maaseik Remnants Network [GMRN].¹³

In 2014, Hakimi traveled to Syria where he linked up with other Belgian jihadis operating in and around Haleb. He is nowadays associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham].¹⁴