Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi: Who was the former IS Leader?

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was an Iraqi militant who served as the Islamic State’s first caliph from 2014 until he died in 2019.

Baghdadi was born in Samarra, Iraq, and studied Islamic theology in graduate school in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He joined al-Qaeda in Iraq and rose through the ranks until he was named emir (top leader) in 2010.

During this time, Al-Qaeda in Iraq reorganised and renamed itself the Islamic State of Iraq. In June 2014, the group declared its independence from al-Qaeda, renamed itself “Islamic State,” and declared itself a caliphate.

Baghdadi was elected caliph of ISIL by the Shura Council, which represented Islamic State members eligible to elect a caliph.

Baghdadi led the Islamic State’s wars against Iraq and Syria as its leader. Baghdadi was directly involved in ISIL’s atrocities and violations of human rights. These include the Yazidi genocide in Iraq, widespread sexual slavery, organised rape, flogging, and systematic executions.

As part of the organization’s propaganda efforts, he embraced brutality, creating videos depicting sexual slavery and executions by hacking, stoning, and burning. Baghdadi was a serial rapist who had several personal sex slaves.