Abu Faraj al-Libbi

Abu Faraj al-Libi (أبو الفرج الليبي) (also transliterated al-Libbi ) is an assumed name or nom de guerre of a Libyan alleged to be a senior member of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. His real name is thought to be Mustafa al-'Uzayti.^[1] He was arrested by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on May 2, 2005, in Mardan (30 mi (48 km) north of Peshawar). Finding al-Libi was a joint effort of the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Special Activities Division and Pakistan's Special Forces. He is now in American military custody in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,^[1] having previously been held at some secret location.^[2]

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence he served as the third in command of al-Qaeda, from the 2003 capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to his own capture in 2005.^[3]

In approximately 2000, he was living in the Karte Parwan district of Kabul, Afghanistan.^[4]

In August 2004 Pakistani officials stated that al-Libbi had become "number three" in al-Qaeda as "director of operations", a role once filled by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.^[5][6] Upon al-Libbi's arrest U.S. and Pakistani authorities continued to claim him as the third most important figure in al-Qaeda.

According to the BBC and Voice of America (VOA) reports, he was riding pillion on a motorbike when he and his driver were ambushed by Pakistani agents, some of whom were wearing burqas. A VOA reporter from Mardan said that while being apprehended, al-Libbi tried to destroy a notebook, which U.S. officials are now trying to decode. The events leading up to the ambush began with US agents intercepting a mobile phone call made by al-Libbi. They zeroed in his location to a busy road a quarter of a mile away on the outskirts of Mardan, about 75 mi (121 km) northwest of Islamabad, and tipped-off Pakistani authorities. Plainclothes Pakistani agents arrived in Mardan and waited for him to arrive.

Abu Faraj al-Libbi was named by Pakistani authorities as the main planner of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.^[7] He is also a suspect in two assassination attempts against Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf.^[1] According to the New York Times, "Mr. Libbi's suspected accomplice in those attacks was a well-known Pakistani militant named Amjad Farooqi, who was also implicated in the murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002. Mr. Farooqi was killed last September in a shootout with security forces in southern Pakistan.".^[8] The importance of al-Libi in the ranks of al-Qaeda and Taliban can also be judged from the fact that as soon his story of arrest was aired on VOA, the correspondent received death-threats from the local Taliban network in Mardan which was so far running underground.

In the early reporting of this capture, there was some confusion between Abu Faraj al-Libbi and another wanted al-Qaeda fugitive Anas al-Liby.^[9] Al-Libi is not a surname, but an adjective, meaning the Libyan. Such adjectives of nationality are used in nicknames, and sometimes to resolve ambiguity; they often admit several alternative English transliterations.

References

External links

• UN Secret Detention Report (Part One): The CIA’s “High-Value Detainee” Program and Secret Prisons Andy Worthington
• Osama bin Laden’s Death, and the Unjustifiable Defense of Torture and Guantánamo Andy Worthington
• Who's who in al-Qaeda, BBC news, August 19, 2005
• Press handout photo of Abu Faraj al-Libbi shortly after his capture, from the Pakistan Interior Ministry; photo at MSNBC