TRIPOLI, Libya — Abdullah el-Senussi, the former intelligence chief and
brother-in-law of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was arrested Saturday at an
airport in Mauritania, the authorities there said, in the most
significant capture of a former official of the Qaddafi government since
the apprehension of the dictator’s son Seif al-Islam by Libyan fighters
in November.
The International Criminal Court has indicted Mr. Senussi, Seif al-Islam
and Colonel Qaddafi on accusations of crimes against humanity committed
during the government’s attempts to crush the rebellion last year that
ultimately ousted the Libyan leader. Colonel Qaddafi was killed by
Libyan fighters shortly after his capture in October. During his years
as intelligence chief, Mr. Senussi presided over the surveillance,
detention, torture and assassination of probably thousands of Libyans.
Aside from Colonel Qaddafi himself, Mr. Senussi was the most reviled
figure in the former government.
After the fall of Tripoli, journalists were able to walk through his
headquarters, including his own grand corner office, the fitness
facility used by his men, the tiny cells scrawled with the desperate
prayers of the inmates who had been housed there, and larger rooms used
for torture and beatings.
Besides being wanted by the international court, Mr. Senussi was also
sought for arrest by France, where he and five other Libyans were
sentenced in absentia to life in prison for the 1989 bombing of a
passenger airplane over Niger that killed all 170 people, many of them
French.
Libyans also believe he was responsible for the brutal 1996 crackdown on
a riot at Abu Salim prison in Tripoli that left 1,200 dead. A
demonstration last year by the families of the dead became the spark
that ignited the Libyan uprising.
It was unclear on Saturday what Mauritania planned to do with Mr.
Senussi. France — which announced that it helped in the arrest,
according to news reports — Libya and the International Criminal Court
had all either asked to take custody of him or said they planned to.
Libya’s interim government said in a statement that it was prepared to
receive Mr. Senussi and guarantee him a free trial. But the Libyan
justice system was always plagued with corruption and favoritism under
Colonel Qaddafi, and the interim authorities have acknowledged that they
are still working to rebuild it on a firmer foundation.
The fate of Seif al-Islam remains unclear. Libyan fighters from the
Western town of Zintan continue to hold him captive, and have refused to
turn him over to Libya’s interim Justice Ministry. It is unclear
whether Libyan authorities would hand him over for trial at the
International Criminal Court if they took him into custody.
Since the fall of Tripoli last August, Libyan fighters have repeatedly
claimed, without proof, that they had captured Mr. Senussi. But
officials of Libya’s interim government had never confirmed his capture.
Instead, rumors of his whereabouts swirled around Tripoli, with one
militia-leader-turned politician even boasting that he personally held
Mr. Senussi in his custody. Former Qaddafi government figures, speaking
on the condition of anonymity for their own safety, have said that Mr.
Senussi was in fact alive and well, living in Africa.
Officials of Mauritania said Saturday that they had arrested Mr. Senussi
debarking from a flight from Casablanca, Morocco, according to news
reports. They said he was carrying a fake Malian passport. Many senior
figures from the former Qaddafi government fled or attempted to flee
over Libya’s porous southern border into other African nations. Colonel
Qaddafi had cultivated close ties to the tribal groups that live on both
sides of those borders.
Three other members of the Qaddafi family who played less important
roles in the government than Seif also escaped into neighboring
countries. Colonel Qaddafi’s son Mohammed and daughter Aisha escaped
into Algeria and are believed to remain there. His son Saadi is in
Niger, effectively under house arrest.
