By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 13 December 2013:
A New York trial . . .[restrict]date for abducted Libyan terror suspect, Abu Anas Al-Libi has been set for November next year. However it was unclear at a pre-trial hearing yesterday if Libi, also known as Nazih Al-Ruqaii, would be tried with two others accused of involvement in the 1998 bombings of two US East African embassies.
Libi’s defence team had asked US District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Manhattan Federal Court for a separate trial because they maintained that t the evidence against the other accused, Adel Abdel Bary and Khalid al Fawwa, could prejudice a jury against Libi.
Judge Kaplan overruled the submission but suggested that there might be two separate juries. The jury required to give a verdict on Libi would be sent out of court whenever prejudicial evidence about the other two accused, was due to be heard.
Lawyers have until next August to appeal the single trial ruling. Libi was kidnapped from outside his Tripoli home on 5 October and taken by US special forces, first to the USS San Antonio, for interrogation. Serious concerns about this health caused him to be transferred to the US mainland. [/restrict]