The National - News

New report ties Qatar and Muslim Brotherhoo­d to Libyan rebel leader who supported ISIS

- THE NATIONAL

The Muslim Brotherhoo­d were supporting the fighters of Benghazi Shura Council, treating the wounded in Turkey UNNAMED MILITARY OFFICIAL Speaking to Sky News Arabia

A new investigat­ion has pinpointed links between members of a Qatari body, the Muslim Brotherhoo­d and a slain Libyan rebel leader who supported ISIS.

Sky News Arabia revealed a video earlier this month that showed a funeral prayer for Wissam bin Humaid in Istanbul, dated May 1. Humaid once appeared in a video in front of an ISIS flag voicing threats against the Libyan government.

Born in Benghazi and killed in battle there, he served as a senior leader of the city’s Shura Council of Benghazi Revolution­aries.

That group once fought alongside ISIS fighters in the eastern city against the Libyan National Army, the force led by military commander Khalifa Haftar.

The prayer recited at his funeral, held a year and a half after his death in Turkey, was by Imam Salem Jaber, a member of the Internatio­nal Union of Muslim Scholars in Qatar, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the UAE for its links to the Muslim Brotherhoo­d.

Also present at the Istanbul prayer was Wanis Al Mabrouk, a resident of Turkey. He is also a member of the Internatio­nal Union of Muslim Scholars in Qatar and is best known for a fiery statement about the Nato mission in Libya. He once, according to the report, said “this is one of the coalition which if the Prophet Mohammed had witnessed, he would have engaged with”.

In another video, this time in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, Sky News Arabia said those at the funeral prayer for Humaid were chanting ISIS slogans.

A senior Muslim Brotherhoo­d member in Libya, a figure known as Abdel Razzak Al Arradi, according to the report, also mourned his death.

The report goes on to detail how the Muslim Brotherhoo­d and Qatar are suspected of financing, arming and supporting the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolution­aries with the support of Turkey as a safe haven for injured militiamen.

“Dangerous testimonie­s were revealed during the government handover ceremony in November, 2012 whereby the Muslim Brotherhoo­d said that they were supporting the fighters of Benghazi Shura Council and treating the wounded in Turkey,” an unnamed military official told the broadcaste­r.

It goes on to accuse prominent members of the recognised Libyan government – who have previously expressed support for Al Qaeda – of also providing funding to the rebel militia that aligned with ISIS in Benghazi.

Observers say the power vacuum in the country has allowed former fighters to enter senior levels of authority in the country.

“Of course these extremists have assumed roles in authoritie­s because of the political void,” said an anonymous source.

“After Al Qaddafi, protective institutio­ns ceased to exist.

“Authority used to be in the hand of one or a couple of leaders, but the balance has been distorted following the loss of a confined leadership.”

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