US Special Team Interrogating Libyan Terror Suspect on Naval Ship
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A special US agency is interrogating the Al-Qaeda suspect who was detained in a raid in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, said officials.
The suspect has been removed to a US naval ship in international waters where he faces questioning, RT reported.
Nazih Abdul-Hamed Ruqai, known by his alias Abu Anas el-Liby, was taken into custody during a covert operation on Saturday. Liby is now being held aboard the USS San Antonio, where he is being interrogated by the US High Value Detainee Group, an inter-agency group led by the FBI, US officials told Reuters.
Liby has been indicted by a US Federal Court for his alleged role in the East Africa bombing and plots to attack American troops.
The interrogation techniques used on Liby are governed by the Army Field Manual, reports the New York Times. The manual itself is based on the Geneva Conventions and as such prohibits the use of torture to interrogate a suspect. The rule book does, however, permit interrogators to threaten the suspect with severe legal consequences and “appeal to his emotions.”
Under the manual the detainee is also entitled to four hours of continuous sleep every 24 hours.
Following Liby’s interrogation it is likely that the US will seek to extradite him to stand trial for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that left 224 civilians dead.
Liby’s detention on the Navy ship has raised some questions regarding its legality, given that the Third Geneva Convention, which applies to prisoners of war, only allows for them to be detained “on premises located on land.”
