Muhammad Ibn 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Khattabi - First World War

First World War

Abd el-Krim entered the Spanish governmental structure, and was appointed chief qadi (Muslim judge) for Melilla in 1914. During the war Abd el-Krim was punished by the Spanish government for anticolonial activities including an alleged conspiracy with the German consul Dr. Walter Zechlin (1879–1962). He was imprisoned in Chaouen from 1916 to 1917. At the end of the war, Abd el-Krim briefly resumed publishing in a Spanish-language newspaper, but soon, fearful of extradition to the French for punishment, he returned to his home at Ajdir in January 1919. He was alarmed by the appearance of Spanish agents in Ayt Weryaghel tribal territory and was determined to fight for his tribe's independence. The following year, Abd el-Krim, together with his father and brother, began a war of rebellion against the Spanish incursions. His goal was now to unite the tribes of the Rif into an independent Republic of the Rif to undermine the entire French-Spanish colonial project in Morocco.