[The following are excerpts from a report in today's edition of The Telegraph:]
Moussa Koussa could help rebels in Libya from his five-star subsidised hotel in Qatar, Downing Street has suggested.
News of Mr Koussa's whereabouts came as the International Criminal Court yesterday issued arrest warrants for Col Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al–Islam and the intelligence chief Abdullah al–Senussi.
David Cameron's official spokesman said the Government wanted to see Mr Koussa help rebels in Libya from his base in Doha.
He said: "It is not for us to give a commentary on what Moussa Koussa is doing. We want to see him play his part in opposing the Libyan regime." (...)
The spokesman added: "We have also been clear that he will not be given any immunity from prosecution in this country."
Mr Koussa had "already been interviewed by Dumfries and Galloway police" over the Lockerbie bombing, he said.
In Parliament, a Conservative MP said he would be asking what level of financial support, if any, Britain had given Mr Koussa since he came to the UK after defecting from Col Gaddafi's regime.
Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, said: "Allegedly this man has blood on his hands, and I hope very much that the British taxpayers are not subsidising him in any way."
Mr Koussa defected to Britain at the end of March but left for Qatar shortly afterwards to take part in a "Gulf contact group" meeting of countries hoping to resolve the Libya crisis.
He was expected to return to Britain, where he is facing calls for his prosecution over accusations ranging from the Lockerbie bombing to supplying arms to the IRA, but is currently showing no signs of doing so.
Can you clarify the status of Moussa Koussa with respect to the Internationally Protected Persons Act 1978; particularly with respect to section 1 'attacks and threats of attacks on protected persons' which lays down the liabilities of people who attack and or make threats of attacks on protected persons and where s1(5)(a) defines a protected person as "a Minister for Foreign Affairs and is outside the territory of the State in which he holds office;"
ReplyDeleteMoussa Koussa has not been the Foreign Minister of Libya since at least the beginning of April, since when the position has been held by Abdel Ati al-Obeidi. In any event, as I read s1 of the 1978 Act, the attacks or threats must relate to murder, manslaughter, culpable homicide, rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm or causing injury, kidnapping, abduction, false imprisonment etc. I'm not aware of threats of this nature made against Moussa.
ReplyDeletethere are rumors in Twitter that M.K. committed suicide in his (new) house in Doha in march 11th- Qatar's authority does not give permission for autopsy-
ReplyDeleteNo news in the mainstream.