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Tripoli. – The Libyan government yesterday demanded the United States to hand over the suspected designer of the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. The suspect, Ahmed Abu Khatallah, now in US custody in a secure location outside of Libya, was arrested on Sunday following a joint operation between American troops and the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Libya’s second-largest city of Benghazi.
Libyan Foreign Ministry Spokesman Said al-Saoud said the government condemned the US operation on Libyan territory without government’s prior knowledge, adding that the suspect should be returned to Libya and tried in Libyan courts.
“I followed the government statements made by the US officials that their forces kidnapped Libyan citizen Ahmed Abu Khatallah. We emphasise Libya has the right to try him in accordance with our laws,” al-Saoud said.
Libyan justice minister Saleh al-Marghani also made a statement yesterday saying Khatallah should be returned to Libya and tried there. Last year, the US filed charges against Khatallah and at least a dozen others in connection with the attack on the consulate in September 2012 in Benghazi which killed the US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and other three US nationals. – Xinhua.
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