Rachid Iba (Jihadi Militant, Belgium)

• Full name: Rachid Iba
• Pseudonym: N/a
• Alternatives: N/a
• Location: Syria, Belgium
• Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], GMIC Maaseik Remnant Network [GMRN], fmr Shari’a for Belgium Movement [Sh4B], fmr Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group [GICM]

Rachid Iba (°1980) is a Belgian-born Moroccan jihadi and former operative of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group [GICM; Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain]. He was a member of the GICM’s branch based in the town of Maaseik and provided logistical support to some of the group’s leaders.¹ In that capacity, Iba traveled to Turkey in late 2003 and later went to Syria.² Fearing arrest by the Syrian regime, he returned to Belgium in September 2004 even though Belgian authorities were in the midst of a clampdown on the GICM. Iba quickly surrendered to the authorities.³ In 2005, his wife reportedly reached out to Moroccan terrorist Mohammed Reha, expressing her willingness to carry out a suicide attack and asking for assistance and training.⁴ A Belgian court sentenced Iba to three years in prison for his involvement with the GICM in 2006. By September of that year, he was already released.⁵ Iba divorced his wife after she abandoned her radicalism while he was in prison.⁶

In the early 2010s, Iba became involved in the Shari’a for Belgium Movement [Sh4B]. He married the sister of key member Brahim el-Mimouni.⁷ Iba served as the liaison between the GICM Maaseik Remnants Network [GMRN] and the Antwerp-based movement.⁸ Iba traveled to Syria in early 2013.⁹ He linked up with his Sh4B acquaintances and joined the Holy Warriors’ Consultative Council [MSM; Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen].¹⁰ Iba had his wife come over in March 2013.¹¹ He later became a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham]. In February 2015, a Belgian court sentenced him in absentia to eight years in prison for his activities.¹² He is believed to have died in Syria during the first half of 2017.¹³