Libyan terror suspect Anas al-Liby dies in custody
This file image from the FBI website shows al-Qaida leader Abu Anas al-Libi. Credit: AP / Uncredited
Anas al-Liby, a Libyan man kidnapped by U.S. forces in 2013 and charged in federal court in Manhattan with aiding in the 1998 al-Qaida bombing of two embassies in Africa, has died in custody, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wrote in a letter to Manhattan U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that al-Liby, 50, who was known to be suffering from liver problems, had been taken from jail to a hospital on New Year's Eve.
"We write now to inform the Court that despite the care provided at the hospital, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and al-Liby passed away yesterday evening," Bharara said in the letter, which was dated Saturday and publicly filed at 12:30 a.m.
The letter said that al-Liby's lawyer and an imam were with him at the hospital, which was not identified. The lawyer, Bernard Kleinman, could not be reached for comment.
Al-Liby was snatched off the street outside his house in Tripoli by special forces and wrested into a car. He was put aboard a ship, where he was subjected to military interrogation before being transferred to civilian custody.
He had alleged that he was threatened and forced to sleep on the floor in a small cubicle while in military custody.
Al-Liby was accused of helping conduct surveillance for truck bombings of American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
