Terror Suspect al-Libi Brought to NYC, Accused in 1998 Embassy Bombings

[Bosonic]

Source: NBC

A Libyan who has been held and interrogated for a week aboard a U.S. warship is now in New York awaiting trial on terrorism charges, U.S. officials said Monday.

The al-Qaida suspect, known as Abu Anas al-Libi, has been under federal indictment in New York for more than a decade. He's due to stand trial over whether he helped plan and conduct surveillance for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.

Two U.S. officials said he arrived in New York on Saturday and has been held while he awaits an arraignment in federal court.

Al-Libi would be the latest in a string of defendants to face civilian trials under President Barack Obama. Early in his term, he faced criticism for planning to prosecute admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York.

Read more: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Abu-Anas-al-Libi-Embassy-Bombings-New-York-Trial-227697001.html

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Excellent, this is what a nation that follows the rule of law does with the accused... n/t

[legcramp]

2. No habeas corpus or Miranda rights for you Mr. Terrorist!

Military personnel aboard ship are subject to UCMJ and civilians aboard are subject to US law.

Oh, I'm sure they know what they're doing and have run this past all the attorneys in the DOJ, You know like the ones that authorize torture(lookin' at you Yoo) and drone strikes.

Sure hope Anas al-Libi is appointed a lousy lawyer.

[msanthrope]

3. Nonsense. He's in the federal system-- arraigned tomorrow and appointed a federal defender. nt

[geek tragedy]

6. What are you babbling about? He's appearing in civilian courts in NY. Full due process rights nt

[tblue]

8. Hope you're right. But I'm glad

I'm not him. I don't believe for one second that every prisoner is treated with all due process. Just seen and read too much to think that anymore. A furner? An Islamic-terrorist, no less? He will have few rights upheld for the rest of his life. That's my belief, but we may never know.

[geek tragedy]

9. I'm glad I'm not him because I'm not going on trial to be potentially sentenced

to prison for the rest of my life.

Then again, I haven't murdered anyone.

[jakeXT]

4. Bored with jihad ?

Abu Anas al-Liby was disillusioned with jihadism, says ex-colleague

Alleged al-Qaida operative seized by US on Saturday returned to Libya in 2011 after time in Afghanistan, UK and Iran


Abu Anas al-Liby, the alleged al-Qaida operative abducted by US forces in Tripoli at the weekend, is a survivor from the early days of Osama bin Laden's organisation who had shown signs of disenchantment with the jihadi movement years ago, according to an ex-colleague.

Liby, whose real name is Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, is wanted by the US for the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Uganda, one of al-Qaida's deadliest attacks before 9/11. He was granted asylum in the UK in 1995 despite objections from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, according to a former senior regime official.

In 1999 he was questioned by UK police but not charged. After he fled his Manchester home, a 180-page handbook on waging global jihad was found there. It is still known in US intelligence circles as the "Manchester manual". His name was included on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list published after the 9/11 attacks.

Liby, now 49, was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which the Gaddafi regime believed had links with British intelligence. Libya's External Security Organisation, headed by Moussa Koussa, made representations to the UK authorities but failed to block his 1995 asylum bid, the former Gaddafi official told the Guardian on Monday.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/07/abu-anas-al-liby-al-qaida

[Jesus Malverde]

5. Abu Anas al-Libi, al Qaeda kingpin caught in Libya, was released by British police before going on t

Ali Soufan, a former FBI counterterror official, said he was among a small group of agents who rushed across the Atlantic in 1999 or 2000 when told Al-Libi was in Manchester, and was to be arrested.

Contrary to reports that he escaped capture, al-Libi was seized and his home raided, Mr Soufan claimed. Yet he was released after no "smoking gun" linking him to the attacks was found in the search.

In his memoir The Black Banners, Mr Soufan said that John O'Neill, then the head of the FBI's Bin Laden unit, warned British detectives that they were making a serious mistake by letting him go.
"You can be certain he'll skip town before we have time to sort through all the evidence and find something – which I'm sure is there," Mr O'Neill, who later died in the September 11 attack, reportedly said. He indeed fled, according to Mr Soufan, evading surveillance by a team following him.

Closer inspection of al-Libi's possessions turned up a book later dubbed the "Manchester Manual", a 180-page book that contained instructions to al-Qaeda operatives for carrying out attacks and advice on enduring interrogation.

This evidence that terrorist operatives had been trained to avoid disclosing information if arrested was later cited by George W. Bush's administration as justifying the torture of al-Qaeda suspects.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/10359319/Abu-Anas-al-Libi-al-Qaeda-kingpin-caught-in-Libya-was-released-by-British-police-before-going-on-the-run.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. Does this mean he wasn't cooperating with his military/CIA interrogation at sea?

You'd think if he were telling them anything useful, they'd keep interrogating him without that messy right to an attorney and all the rest.

[geek tragedy]

10. No, as much as you want him to be the victim and the US to be the villains

for having the audacity to prosecute him.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/07/justice/libya-al-libi-u-s-trial/?hpt=hp_t2

On Monday, al Libi was on a U.S. Navy warship where he was being questioned by a high-value detainee interrogation group, an FBI-led team with intelligence experts from the CIA and other agencies, which is determining whether he has information on al Qaeda operations, future attacks or the whereabouts of known associates, U.S. officials have said.

A Defense Department statement says he is being held "lawfully under the law of war in a secure location outside of Libya."

It is unclear how long he will be interrogated, but U.S. officials have said he will be transferred to New York for trial. Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have previously said they prefer to try individuals such as al Libi in American courts.

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. You assume much, and in an insulting manner. Go take a walk or something.

[Warren Stupidity]

12. So the torture session was wrapped up quickly.

Of course the Obama administration doesn't do torture. I guess he was just on a pre-arraignment cruise.

[truthisfreedom]

13. He'll never be prosecuted! He's his own al-Libi!

Sorry.