Libya in last ditch effort to get former spy chief

NOUAKCHOTT

Abdullah al-Senussi (L) is seen with former Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi. EPA photo

Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib pushed Mauritania during a visit on July 4 for the extradition of Moammar Gadhafi’s ex-spy chief, the official AMI agency reported.

Abdullah al-Senussi, feared former right hand man of the slain Libyan dictator, was arrested in March in Mauritania and charged two months later for using forged travel documents to illegally enter the country. “We have expressed the desire of Libyans to see this person return to his homeland to be judged fairly, with respect for human dignity,” said the Libyan premier after meeting Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Agence France-Presse reported.

He vowed al-Senussi would be treated “in a manner that reflects the new face of Libya that preserves his rights as a Libyan citizen and as a person.” Senussi is the target of another international arrest warrant after a Paris court sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment for involvement in the downing of a French UTA airliner over Niger in September 1989. The plane was carrying 170 people from Brazzaville to Paris via N’Djamena.