[The following is an excerpt from a report in today's edition of The Herald:]
Muammar Gaddafi’s brother-in-law and
spymaster general was dramatically captured yesterday, just a day after
the dictator’s son Saif was caught, in what were dubbed the “last acts”
of a now-extinct regime.
Having
both men in custody will boost hopes that they will reveal what they
know about the Lockerbie bombing and other atrocities.
The
last stand of intelligence chief Abdullah al Senussi came as Libyan
rebels insisted they would try Saif rather than transfer him to
International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. Unlike the ICC, it is
expected a Libyan court would have the power to impose the death
penalty, and officials in the interim government yesterday indicated
that was the punishment they would seek.
It
is likely the rebels will also push for the death penalty for al
Senussi, long known as Gaddafi’s brutal right-hand man and a hate figure
for many in the country. (...)
A decade ago he was convicted in his absence in France of the 1989 bombing of a UTA passenger plane over Niger which killed
170 people. As a former head of the country’s intelligence services he
is likely to face pressure to reveal what he knows about the 1988
Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 people in died the worst terrorist
atrocity over UK soil.
[A similar report in The Scotsman can be read here. The following appears in a post of 17 May 2011 on this blog:]
In the 1980s, he headed Libya's external security organisation, in which
capacity he was said to have recruited Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man
convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 people were
killed. Like Megrahi, Senussi is a member of the powerful Megarha tribe.
He is also a cousin of Abdel-Salam Jalloud, one of Gaddafi's oldest
comrades.
Since the US is controlling the NTC, the main interest is to kill Saif to prevent succession in leadership. Where is Baghdadi Mahmoudi? He was the one the protesters wanted gone, the only mention of Gadaffi was in the western press. Gadaffi didn't command the military either.
ReplyDeleteThe NTC is also unelected as yet. Any plans on their agenda to actually hold elections in this new "democratic" Libya? Or is that a step too far for the NTC and their new Western friends in Washington and London?
ReplyDeleteI have deleted a comment because it did not relate to the Lockerbie case.
ReplyDelete