Fuad Mohamed Qalaf

Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Qalaf ( _so. "Fu'aad Maxamed Khalaf", born March 28, 1965) is a Somali Islamist and leading member of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).

Born in MogadishuFact|date=March 2008, Qalaf came to Sweden as an asylum seeker in 1992 and later received Swedish citizenship.cite news |first=Nuri |last=Kino |authorlink=Nuri Kino |title=Islamistisk ledare värvade i Sverige |url=http://www.metro.se/se/article/2007/04/15/22/3625-42/index.xml |publisher=Metro |date=2007-04-16 |accessdate=2008-03-05 |language=Swedish] cite news |first=Mohamed Abdi |last=Farah |title=Somalia: abroad Somali communities urged to return home for Jihad |url=http://somalinet.com/news/world/English/4203|publisher=SomaliNet |date=2006-10-11 |accessdate=2006-12-27] He stayed in Sweden for twelve years, most of the time working as an Imam at a mosque in the Stockholm area. As such, he worked to influence young Muslims about Jihad. In 2004, Qalaf returned to Somalia together with his family to fight with the Islamic Courts Union in the war against the Transitional Federal Government and allied Ethiopian forces. Following the conquest of Mogadishu in 2006, Qalaf went on to serve as head of the Department of Education under the new ICU-government. The Somali human rights group Sultan Hurre Human Rights Focus also described him as a "senior leader" of ICU militant youth wing Hizbul Shabaab. [cite web |url=http://www.suldanhurre.org/icg27Jan07.htm |title=Somalia: The Tough Part is Ahead |accessdate=2008-03-05 |date=2007-01-26 |work= |publisher=Sultan Hurre Human Rights Focus] After the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006 and subsequent topple of the ICU-government, Qalaf and other ICU leaders fled to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. [cite news |first=Abdulkadir |last=Khalif |title=West ‘backing the wrong horse’ in Mogadishu peace initiatives |url=http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/news2901200710.htm |publisher=The East African |date=2007-01-29 |accessdate=2007-02-02] In April 2007 he was reported as living in Kenya.

References

Persondata
NAME=Qalaf, Fuad Mohamed
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Islamist
DATE OF BIRTH=March 28, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH=Somalia