Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad

Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, commonly known as Mullah Krekar, was born on July 7, 1956, in Iraqi Kurdistan but has resided in Norway since June 1991, where he was granted refugee status. While his wife and their four children hold Norwegian citizenship, Krekar was never granted Norwegian nationality.
He was a commander for the Peshmerga unit belonging to the Kurdistan Islamic Movement during the 1991 Iraqi uprisings. In December 2001, he founded and became the Emir of Ansar al-Islam, a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda, a position he held until 2003. Exiled and unable to return to Kurdistan, he continued operating from Europe, leveraging his experience in Ansar al-Islam and his involvement in the Kurdistan Battalion to create a structured, cell-based militant network.
In the spring of 2008, Krekar founded and directed Rawti Shax, also known as Didi Nwe, with the primary objective of overthrowing the elected government of Kurdistan and establishing an Islamic caliphate. To achieve this, he maintained ties with the al-Qaida Kurdish Battalions and other militant groups, seeking military support for operations in Kurdistan.
The network followed Ansar al-Islam’s model, maintaining a pyramidal structure with Krekar at the top, overseeing recruitment, ideological training, and propaganda, ensuring a constant flow of new members and financial resources. He believed armed jihad was an essential duty of faith, instilling determination and courage in his followers. Jihad, in his view, had to be waged under the banner of Islam and for the love of God, with the ultimate goal of creating a caliphate in Kurdistan.
A key tool for indoctrination and radicalization was the Ibn Taymiyyah online university, personally managed by Krekar to teach Salafi religious precepts. Members attended classes, took exams, and were systematically indoctrinated into jihadist ideology.
A governing body managed Rawti Shax, with an executive committee overseeing intelligence, eliminations, and espionage. Members had to meet strict criteria, including three years of active participation, before being recognized as full members and progressing through three stages to reach leadership roles.
From the outset, Krekar aimed to expand Rawti Shax’s international reach, establishing bases across multiple European countries for logistical support and recruit selection. The organization also maintained a strategic presence in Kurdistan, particularly in border areas near Iran, which served as an operational hub for its activities. The organization also had military training camps.
Unlike Ansar al-Islam, Rawti Shax was created in Europe with the goal of operating in Kurdistan from abroad. The group carefully managed its communications, ensuring visibility for recruitment and fundraising while concealing its activities from Western intelligence agencies. Members used secret linguistic codes and frequently changed accounts on online platforms to avoid detection.
In March 2012, Krekar was imprisoned in Kongsvinger Prison (Oslo) and sentenced to five years for making death threats, with an additional year added in August 2012. On appeal in December 2012, he was acquitted of incitement to terrorism but convicted of intimidation, receiving a sentence of two years and ten months.
From prison, he continued to direct Rawti Shax through family members and associates, including Twana Karim Rahim, Zana Abdul Rahman Rahim, and Jalal Fatah Kamil. He defined strategies to keep the organization active, planned covert operations in Kurdistan, and authorized kidnappings and extortion of government officials under the guise of humanitarian work and proselytism.
Beyond this, he selected individuals for violent actions, dispatched representatives to forge alliances with other militant groups in the Middle East and managed the network’s financial resources. He also authorized Rawti Shax’s involvement in the Syrian jihad, determining compensation for the families of fallen fighters, whose deaths were leveraged for propaganda purposes. During this time, he ordered Rawti Shax to align with the Islamic State.
Between 2015 and 2019, he was arrested multiple times in Norway and across Europe, accused of inciting violence, leading Rawti Shax, and pledging allegiance to ISIS. In July 2019, an Italian court sentenced him to 12 years in absentia for leading Rawti Shax, a terrorist organization with the objective of imposing the Islamic State in Kurdistan. In 2020, Norwegian he was extradited to Italy. His case was part of a broader European investigation that led to the conviction of other Kurdish-Iraqi individuals on terrorism-related charges. Authorities identified his role in recruiting foreign fighters, supporting jihadist activities, and planning operations in both Europe and the Middle East. In 2022, the Italian Supreme Court confirmed his conviction for jihadist terrorism.