{"id":37085,"date":"2019-03-24T09:23:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T09:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=37085"},"modified":"2019-03-24T09:23:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T09:23:07","slug":"libya-protesters-demand-release-of-gaddafi-era-spy-chief-senussi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=37085","title":{"rendered":"Libya: Protesters demand release of Gaddafi-era spy chief Senussi"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Relatives and supporters of\u00a0Libya<\/a>‘s Gaddafi-era intelligence chief, jailed for his alleged role in a bloody crackdown during the country’s 2011 uprising, protested in Tripoli on Saturday to demand his release.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abdullah al-Senussi<\/a>, a brother-in-law of longtime ruler\u00a0Muammar Gaddafi<\/a>, was sentenced to death in 2015 over the part he allegedly played in the government’s response to a\u00a0NATO<\/a>-backed uprising in 2011 that toppled and killed Gaddafi.<\/p>\n

Eight others close to Gaddafi, including the late Libyan leader’s son,\u00a0Saif al-Islam<\/a>, also received death sentences following a trial condemned by the United Nations as “seriously” flawed.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several dozen relatives and members of al-Senussi’s tribe, the Magerha, gathered in a central Tripoli square to demand he be freed over health concerns.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

“The law and medical reports support our legitimate demand,” said protester Mohamad Amer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials have not released specific details on his alleged health problems. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Magerha said his liberation would “contribute to and consolidate national reconciliation” in a country torn apart by intercommunal conflicts since Gaddafi’s fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

The unusual protest comes just over a month after the release on health grounds of Abuzeid Dorda, Gaddafi’s head of foreign intelligence who was sentenced at the same time as al-Senussi.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

The protesters held up photos of al-Senussi behind bars and placards reading “Freedom to prisoners. Yes to national reconciliation”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Al-Senussi was extradited in September 2012 by\u00a0Mauritania<\/a>, where he had fled after Gaddafi’s fall.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Gaddafi’s son, he had also been the subject of an\u00a0International Criminal Court<\/a>\u00a0arrest warrant for suspected war crimes during the 2011 uprising.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in an unusual move, in 2013, the court gave Libyan authorities the green light to put him on trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has since been imprisoned in the capital, along with some 40 other senior Gaddafi-era officials, including Gaddafi’s last Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saif al-Islam was captured and imprisoned by an armed group in the northwestern city of Zintan and sentenced by a Tripoli court in absentia.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group announced his release in 2017 but it was never confirmed and his fate remains unknown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n SOURCE:
\n Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relatives and supporters of\u00a0Libya’s Gaddafi-era intelligence chief, jailed for his alleged role in a bloody crackdown during the country’s 2011 uprising, protested in Tripoli on Saturday to demand his release. Abdullah al-Senussi, a brother-in-law of longtime ruler\u00a0Muammar Gaddafi, was sentenced to death in 2015 over the part he allegedly played in the government’s response to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}