Abu Anas al Libi, the alleged Al Qaeda member who was captured in Tripoli, Libya just over a week ago by U.S. special operations forces, was transported to New York, according to the United States Attorney's office.
The 49-year-old Libyan national was captured by US Army Delta force soldiers, then taken aboard the Navy ship, USS San Antonio, where he was questioned by an interrogation teams according to US officials. Navy ships have become the preferred interrogation sites, having replaced the CIA’s black sites, and are used to hold and question suspected terrorists while denying them access to lawyers.
US officials say that al Libi, who played a role in US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, is ” one of the world’s most wanted terrorists.” Al libi has been under federal indictment in New York since 2001, and will attend court on Tuesday on charges stemming from his involvement in those incidents.
It is unknown if the US government informed the Libyan government of its intentions to carry out the operation, it is also unknown if the US military had any local assistance as they snatched al Libi. Reports say Libya is outraged by the snatching of al Libi, who has had a $5 million price on his head for the last decade.
Al Libi’s family was unaware that he had been brought to the United States and was shocked at the news that he was in New York. His son, Abdullah, said that he and his family have hopes of procuring an attorney for his father. His family denies that al Libi was ever a senior Al Qaeda leader. They did admit that he was affiliated with the group a long time ago, but it totally broke ties with the terrorist group in 1996.
Al Libi’s wife, Umm Abdul Rahman, said he is a Libyan patriot and innocent of any crimes. She stated that al Libi had become disillusioned with Al Qaeda and their focus on American and Western targets and had left the group and joined the Libyan Islamic fighting group instead.
“He broke off with al-Qaida for several reasons. But when he got to know the men at the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group they had a common vision, a common cause, a common enemy, which was the Gadhafi regime and they wanted to remove or overthrow this regime,” Rahman stated.
Al Libi was taken while returning to his home after dawn prayers.