Hassan Dahir Aweis

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweis (* 1945 ; Somali: Xasan Daahir Aweys ) is a leader in political Islam in Somalia . He was one of the leading figures in the Union of Islamic Courts , within which he is considered a representative of a radical position.

Hassan Dahir Aweis was a colonel under the president and dictator Siad Barre , including in the Ogaden War . He later served the warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid during the civil war , before turning to the radical Islamist organization al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI). With financial support from the Arab Gulf States, AIAI sought to establish an Islamic state of God and is said to have had contacts with international terrorism and al-Qaeda . Parts of this organization flowed into the Union of Islamic Courts , which comprised a broad spectrum from moderate to radical and militant elements. Hassan Dahir Aweis was considered a "hardliner" within the Union.

After the Union of Islamic Courts took Mogadishu on June 5, 2006 and soon after controlled large parts of southern Somalia, he was named leader of an 88-member regional parliament in mid-June. There he campaigned for the comprehensive introduction of Islamic law, the Shari'a . Since the disempowerment of the Union of Islamic Courts by Ethiopian troops, he has been in exile in Asmara , Eritrea , and from there acts in the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia for the withdrawal of Ethiopia from Somalia and the establishment of an Islamic state.

Hassan Dahir Aweis describes himself as a godly scholar and freedom fighter. In public he always wears large glasses and a beard dyed red with henna . The US accuses him of connections to the al-Qaeda terrorist network - which Aweis denies - and has him on a list of wanted terrorists.

Web links

• Guardian.co.uk: Our mission is liberation, says Somali Islamist leader (May 2008 )
• BBC News: Profile: Somalia's Islamist leader