Alleged al Qaeda figure on trial
October 14, 2013
Wanted for 15 years before the American special forces raid in Tripoli on October 5, al-Libi is a suspect in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. After his capture, al-Libi was transported to a Navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea to face interrogation.
The computer expert was brought to New York over the weekend. He will reportedly face a criminal indictment filed in 2001 in a civil court.
"The government expects that he will be presented before a judicial officer tomorrow (Tuesday)," US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
The US had placed a bounty of $5 million (3.7 million euros) on al-Libi's head while he was on the run. US President Barack Obama said last week that the Libyan had “planned and helped to execute a plot that killed hundreds of people, a whole lot of Americans.”
The kidnapping of Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zidan last Thursday was allegedly a direct response to al-Libi's capture. Speaking to Libya's Nabir television station, al-Libi's son Abdullah - in the wake of his father's abduction - said: “The people who took my father were Libyan, not Americans - they spoke with Tripoli accents.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry defended the apprehension of al-Libi, describing it as “appropriate and legal.”
ph/dr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)