Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda Bin Qumu ( ar, أبو سفيان إبراهيم أحمد حمودة بن قمو, born 26 June 1959) is a citizen of

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

who was held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command ha ...

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

analysts report he was born on 26 June 1959, in

Derna, Libya Derna (; ar, درنة ') is a port city in eastern Libya. It has a population of 85,000–90,000. It was the seat of one of the wealthiest provinces in the Barbary States, and remains the capital of the Derna District, with a much smaller area. ...

. Bin Qumu was transferred to Libya on 28 September 2007. In 2011, he was the leader of a band of fighters in his hometown of Derna during the 2011 Libyan civil war. After the war, he led the militant Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia's Derna branch.

Prior history

A disclosed file from 2005 on

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

alleged that he served as a tank driver in the Libyan army. He later allegedly traveled to Afghanistan and trained in Bin Laden's Torkham Camp. After fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, he allegedly worked as a truck driver for Wadi Al-'Aqiq, one of Bin Laden's companies in Suba, Sudan. He later joined the

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known as ''Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya'' ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا), was an armed Islamist group. Militants participated in the 2011 Lib ...

, joined the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

in 1998, and he was a "probable member of

Al Qaida Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 3 ...

and a member of the African Extremist Network."

Repatriation and release

Bin Qumu was reported to have been released in October 2007. He was transferred to Libya on 28 September 2007 and was released from Abu Salim prison in 2010 following an amnesty for political prisoners.

Libyan Civil War

In 2011, Bin Qumu became the leader of a band of fighters in his hometown of Derna called

Ansar al-Sharia Ansar al-Sharia or Ansar al-Shariah is a name used by a collection of radical or militant Islamist groups or militias, in at least eight countries. While they share names and ideology, they lack a unified command structure. *Ansar al-Sharia (Yemen ...

during the 2011 Libyan civil war. It was reported that Bin Qumu was possibly involved with, and may have led, the 11 September 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four US Diplomats were killed including US Ambassador Chris Stevens. A US national security official subsequently stated to ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'': " hereport is wrong, there's no intelligence suggesting that he was leading the attack on the consulate that evening." However, other US officials have since confirmed that Bin Qumu was likely present and played a role in the attack. On 10 January 2014, the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

listed Bin Qumu as a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the US Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of US Executive Order ...

. On 17 June 2018,

Al Arabiya Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC. The channel is a fl ...

reported that bin Qumu was taken into custody when the Libyan Army captured the last stronghold of Ansar al-Sharia, in Derna. They reported he had not played a prominent role in the organization.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bin Qumu, Abu Sufian 1959 births Living people People from Derna, Libya Libyan Islamists Libyan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Guantanamo detainees known to have been released People of the First Libyan Civil War Leaders of Islamic terror groups