Former Gaddafi spy chief arrested in Mauritania

* Senussi was last major Gaddafi regime figure at large

* Both France, ICC seek extradition

NOUAKCHOTT/TRIPOLI:Mauritania arrested Muammar Gaddafi’s ex-spy chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, as he arrived on an overnight flight, officials said on Saturday, immediately triggering a three-way race for his extradition.

Senussi, who for decades before the late dictator’s fall inspired fear and hatred in ordinary Libyans, is sought by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity during last year’s conflict.

But Libya’s new rulers insisted he would have a fair trial there. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said France helped in the arrest and also wanted him extradited to face justice there, citing his alleged role in the 1989 bombing of an airliner over Niger in which 54 French nationals died.

“Today we confirm the news of the arrest of Abdullah al-Senussi,” Libyan government spokesman Nasser al-Manee told a news conference in Tripoli. “He was arrested this morning in Nouakchott airport and there was a young man with him. We think it is his son,” he said, confirming a Mauritanian state news agency report earlier that Senussi had been arrested with a false Malian passport arriving from Casablanca, Morocco.

France, which led Western backing for the popular uprising that toppled Gaddafi, said it had cooperated with Mauritanian authorities over the arrest and that it would send an arrest warrant to Mauritania ‘in the next few hours’. A statement from Sarkozy’s office noted that Senussi had been sentenced in absentia for the 1989 bombing of a UTA airliner, in which a total 170 people were killed. Families of the victims immediately demanded he face justice in France.

“For the time being, there is an ICC arrest warrant for him, and the court requests it to be implemented. This remains valid, unless the ICC judges decide otherwise,” ICC spokesman Fadi El-Abdallah said. However Mauritania is not a signatory to the Rome Statute governing the ICC and Libya’s government spokesman Manee also confirmed it had sought the extradition of Senussi, the last key figure of Gaddafi’s regime still at large.

“The Libyan foreign ministry is in touch with Mauritania about the procedure. The Libyan government is ready to receive Abdullah al-Senussi ... and give him a fair trial in Libya,” he said. The Mauritanian government made no comment on the arrest beyond the report of its official news agency. The Casablanca flight normally arrives at Nouakchott just before midnight but airport workers questioned by Reuters said they had not been aware of anything unusual.

Senussi is suspected of a key role in the killing of more than 1,200 inmates at Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison in 1996. It was the arrest of a lawyer for victims’ relatives that sparked Libya’s Arab Spring revolt in February last year. The ICC has charged Senussi and Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam as being “indirect co-perpetrators” of murder and persecution. But Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, president of the families association for the UTA bombing, said they counted on France to ensure Senussi faced justice for the attack.

“We never lost hope that those responsible for this attack, the most deadly that has hit France, would face justice,” he said in a statement. Senussi’s arrest provoked equally fierce emotion on the streets of Tripoli. “Senussi is Gaddafi’s black box, he has a lot of information,” Tripoli resident Mustafa Jhyma said. “He has blood on his hands he should be brought here and tried in Libya.” “This is a big moment for Libyans. I wish that he had been arrested here,” another resident Abdullah al-Mory said.

Saif al-Islam was captured disguised as a Bedouin in the Sahara in November is awaiting trial in Libya on rape and murder charges. Libya’s National Transitional Council says he will get a fair hearing but his supporters want him sent to the Hague. reuters

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