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Mauritania 'extradites Libya ex-spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi' | Mauritania 'extradites Libya ex-spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi' |
(35 minutes later) | |
Mauritania has handed Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi over to the Libyan authorities, state media say. | |
Libya wants to try Mr Senussi for crimes allegedly committed during his time as Col Gaddafi's right-hand man. He is also wanted by France and the International Criminal Court (ICC). | Libya wants to try Mr Senussi for crimes allegedly committed during his time as Col Gaddafi's right-hand man. He is also wanted by France and the International Criminal Court (ICC). |
Mauritania previously said Senussi must first face charges of illegal entry. | Mauritania previously said Senussi must first face charges of illegal entry. |
He fled Libya after last year's uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. | |
He was arrested on arrival in Mauritania, sparking repeated requests from the Libyan government for his return. | |
The report of his extradition was carried by state TV and the state news agency in Mauritania. There has so far been no confirmation from the Libyan authorities. | |
"He was extradited to Libya on the basis of guarantees given by Libyan authorities," a Mauritanian government source told Reuters news agency, without giving details. | |
According to the reports, Mr Senussi was delivered to an official Libyan delegation headed by the minister of justice. | |
Massacre | |
It is not known if he is still in the country although one official quoted by AP news agency said the former spy-chief left Mauritania on Wednesday on a Libya-bound flight. | |
In March, Mr Senussi was held at Nouakchott airport in Mauritania after flying in from Morocco - five months after the capture and killing of Col Gaddafi. | In March, Mr Senussi was held at Nouakchott airport in Mauritania after flying in from Morocco - five months after the capture and killing of Col Gaddafi. |
Two months later he was charged for illegally entering the country and for the use of forged documents. | |
In June 2011, href="http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Situations+and+Cases/Situations/ICC0111/Related+Cases/ICC01110111/ICC01110111.htm" >the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued a warrant for Mr Senussi for crimes against humanity alleged to have been carried out in Benghazi, the main base of the Libyan opposition during the revolt last year. | |
France has already sentenced Mr Senussi to life imprisonment for the shooting down of a UTA airliner over Niger in 1989 in which 170 people were killed. | |
He has been accused of various human rights abuses including his alleged role in the 1996 massacre of more than 1,000 inmates at the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. | |
He is alleged to have ordered guards standing on grated ceilings above the inmates to fire down on them, after riots broke out over demands for better food and conditions. | |
Mr Senussi is also believed to have information about Libyans kidnapped and assassinated abroad during Gaddafi's rule, and the financing of terrorist organisations, especially in Africa. | |
Investigators in the US and UK also believe he may have further knowledge about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 people died. |