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By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 14 October 2013:
A reportedly sick Nazih Al-Ruqaii, alias Abu Anas Al-Libi, who was kidnapped from outside his home . . .[restrict]in the Tripoli district of Nufleen eleven days ago, is due to appear in court in New York tomorrow, to face charges relating to the bombings of two East African embassies in 1998.
After he was abducted, Ruqaii was taken to a US warship, where it was expected that he would undergo extensive interrogation about his alleged links with Al-Qaeda. However US military sources are being reported as saying that their 49-year old suspect was found to be too ill to be treated properly on the US naval vessel. He was therefore flown two or three days ago to the United States for specialist care.
Following Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and Justice Minister Salah Marghani visit to Ruqaii’s wife, Um Abdulrahaman six days ago, Marghani said that the kidnapped man was “very sick ”.
The government has protested that Ruqaii’s seizure contravened international law and that whatever his crimes, as a Libyan, Ruqaii should be tried in Libya. It has demanded that he be returned to Libya immediately.
Marghani told a press conference that he had protested to the American ambassador, Deborah Jones. She had promised legal rights for the abductee, as well as allowing him to be in contact with the Libyan government and the Libyan embassy in Washington. Marghani also said that the government had been in touch with the International Red Cross asking it to visit Ruqaii to check on his condition and to ensure that he could phone his family at the earliest possible opportunity.
He was indicted in 2000 along with 20 other Al-Qaeda suspects, including Osama bin Laden and his successor as Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman Al-Zawahri.
He is accused of being part of the simultaneous bombings of US embassies in Nairobi in Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in which 224 people perished and thousands were injured. The charges include conspiring to kill US citizens and destroy US property.
Last Friday, the New York judge hearing the embassy bombing case denied a request from the public defender’s office that the court appoint a defence lawyer. The prosecutor’s office argued successfully that Ruqaii had first to prove that he could not afford to pay for a lawyer. [/restrict]
