Al-Qaeda suspect dies days before trial date

Middle East, News, US January 3, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

A Libyan accused over the 1998 Al-Qaeda bombings of US embassies in Africa died on Friday, days before he was to stand trial in New York, his lawyer said.

Abu Anas al-Libi, 50, was on the FBI’s most-wanted list with a $5 million price on his head when he was captured by US troops in the Libyan capital Tripoli in October 2013.

The computer expert, also known as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, was scheduled to go on trial in New York on January 12 to face a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

He was indicted by a US court in 2000 for taking part in the Al-Qaeda-led bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which killed 224 people and wounded more than 5,000.

Libi, died at a hospital in the New York area on Friday, his lawyer Bernard Kleinman said, the health of his client — who had advanced liver cancer — had deteriorated significantly in the last month.

Following his death, Al Libi’s wife, Um Abdullah, told the Associated Press news agency on Saturday that her husband’s experience had worsened his illness.

“I accuse the American government of kidnapping, mistreating, and killing an innocent man. He did nothing,” Abullah said.

France 24/DW