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Top Libyan Intelligence Officer Under House Arrest
TRIPOLI, Nov 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The deputy head of Libyan intelligence, who was implicated in the bombing of a French airliner in 1989, has been put under house arrest, a leading Arabic-language newspaper said Tuesday.
Intelligence official Abdallah Senussi, who is Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's brother-in-law, "was put under house arrest along with several [other] Libyan intelligence officials," the London-based
Al-Hayat said.
The daily, quoting officials close to the government, said Senussi had been a Kadhafi confidant for 20 years, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
Senussi, along with five Libyan agents and diplomats, was condemned in absentia to life in prison by a Paris court in March 1999 for his involvement in the bombing of a French UTA airliner over Nigeria in 1989, killing 170 people.
The reasons for the measures against Senussi were not clear.
Al Hayat said sources informed it that the decision was taken because of his poor performance in protecting the Libyan leader, who faced an assassination attempt last year when a hand bomb was thrown at him in the Libyan city of Darna.
"The question that poses itself is why did the Libyan authorities wait for all these long months before it took its decision to punish Al Senusi?" said the paper.
However, the daily quoted informed sources as saying the move coincides with new cooperation in the fight against terror between Libya and the United States, which objects to dealing with anyone convicted of terrorist plots.
"European observers said that the U.S. delegation, which met with Libyans in London last October, gave the Libyan government preconditions for the gradual normalization of relations between the two states.
"One of these was a list of names in the Libyan intelligence which the Libyan authorities had to remove and be replaced with others," said the paper.
The Libyan government gave no guarantees to provide information regarding the names of Islamic individuals or organizations in Africa, said the paper. However, it gave its American counterpart the names of Islamic activists living in Gulf, European and other Arab countries, and who allegedly performed "terrorist" acts in the city of Bengazi,. Libya requested their arrests.
Libyan Finance Minister Al-Ajili Brini was condemned on November 4 to one year in prison by a special Libyan court for negligence in carrying out his duties, but he has kept his job and remained free pending an appeal, said AFP.
Forty-six other officials and civil servants were sentenced in the same case to between one and 19 years in prison for negligence and embezzlement, Libyan officials said.
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