Mauritania agrees to extradite Senussi

“I have met the President of Mauritania and he agreed to the extradition of Senussi to Libya,” Mustafa Abushagur wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday.

“The Libyan delegation visited Senussi in prison and confirmed his identity. The criminal sits in a Mauritanian prison and soon will be in a Libyan prison,” Abushagur wrote in another tweet in Arabic.

Senussi is subject to France and the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants on charges of crimes against humanity, while Saudi Arabia and Spain also want to interrogate him over attacks committed in their countries.

“We agreed to study their (France’s and ICC’s) request favorably. It’s almost a done deal but one should be careful. The French are applying lots of pressure… They say their claim takes priority because their arrest warrant went in first and because they helped with the arrest,” said a Mauritanian security source on condition of anonymity.

Amnesty International has described the Libyan judicial system as “paralyzed” and has called for Senussi’s transfer to the ICC.

Senussi, whose whereabouts had been unclear for months, was arrested at Mauritania’s Nouakchott airport late on Friday upon arrival from Casablanca in Morocco.

He has also been held responsible for the notorious massacre of over 1,000 inmates in Libya’s Abu Salim prison in the capital city, Tripoli, in 1996.

On October 20, Libya’s eight-month revolution eventually led to the ouster, capture and execution of the country’s authoritarian ruler Muammar Gaddafi, putting an end to his 42-year dictatorship.

MHB/MA

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