Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison
10.5.09
The Arabic media is ablaze with the news that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the emir of an Afghan training camp — whose claim that Saddam Hussein had been involved in training al-Qaeda operatives in the use of chemical and biological weapons was used to justify the invasion of Iraq — has died in a Libyan jail. So far, however, the only English language report is on the Algerian website Ennahar Online, which reported that the Libyan newspaper Oea stated that al-Libi (aka Ali Abdul Hamid al-Fakheri) “was found dead of suicide in his cell,” and noted that the newspaper had reported the story “without specifying the date or method of suicide.”
This news resolves, in the grimmest way possible, questions that have long been asked about the whereabouts of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, perhaps the most famous of “America’s Disappeared” — prisoners seized in the “War on Terror,” who were rendered not to Guantánamo but to secret prisons run by the CIA or to the custody of governments in third countries — often their own — where, it was presumed, they would never be seen or heard from again.
The emir of the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan, al-Libi was one of hundreds of prisoners seized by Pakistani forces in December 2001, crossing from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Most of these men ended up in Guantánamo after being handed over (or sold) to US forces by their Pakistani allies, but al-Libi was, notoriously, rendered to Egypt by the CIA to be tortured on behalf of the US government.
In Egypt, he came up with the false allegation about connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein that was used by President Bush in a speech in Cincinnati on October 7, 2002, just days before Congress voted on a resolution authorizing the President to go to war against Iraq, in which, referring to the supposed threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s regime, Bush said, “We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and deadly gases.”
Four months later, on February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell made the same claim in his notorious speech to the UN Security Council, in an attempt to drum up support for the invasion. “I can trace the story of a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these [chemical and biological] weapons to al-Qaeda,” Powell said, adding, “Fortunately, this operative is now detained, and he has told his story.” As a Newsweek report in 2007 explained, Powell did not identify al-Libi by name, but CIA officials — and a Senate Intelligence Committee report — later confirmed that he was referring to al-Libi.
Al-Libi recanted his story in February 2004, when he was returned to the CIA’s custody, and explained, as Newsweek described it, that he told his debriefers that “he initially told his interrogators that he ‘knew nothing’ about ties between Baghdad and Osama bin Laden and he ‘had difficulty even coming up with a story’ about a relationship between the two.” The Newsweek report explained that “his answers displeased his interrogators — who then apparently subjected him to the mock burial. As al-Libi recounted, he was stuffed into a box less than 20 inches high. When the box was opened 17 hours later, al-Libi said he was given one final opportunity to ‘tell the truth.’ He was knocked to the floor and ‘punched for 15 minutes.’ It was only then that, al-Libi said, he made up the story about Iraqi weapons training.”
As I explained in a recent article, Even In Cheney’s Bleak World, The Al-Qaeda-Iraq Torture Story Is A New Low, drawing on reports in the New York Times and by Jane Mayer in the New Yorker, the use of al-Libi to extract a false confession that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq was particularly shocking, because a Defense Intelligence Agency report had concluded in February 2002 that al-Libi was lying, and Dan Coleman of the FBI (which had been pulled off al-Libi’s case when the CIA — and the administration — decided to render him to torture in Egypt) had no doubt that the emir of an Afghan training camp would know nothing about Iraq. “It was ridiculous for interrogators to think Libi would have known anything about Iraq,” Coleman told Jane Mayer. “I could have told them that. He ran a training camp. He wouldn’t have had anything to do with Iraq.”
There have long been suspicions that, after the CIA had finished exploiting al-Libi, he was sent back to Libya, but although Ennahar Online claimed that he “was sentenced to life imprisonment” in Libya, and that a representative of Human Rights Watch had recently met him in prison (which I have not yet had time to investigate, but find highly unlikely), the most detailed story about what happened to him, and why he was not sent to Guantánamo with 14 other “high-value detainees” in September 2006, was provided to Newsweek by Noman Benotman, an exiled Libyan opposed to the regime of Colonel Gaddafi, who said, in May 2007, that
during a recent trip to Tripoli, he met with a senior Libyan government official who confirmed to him that al-Libi had been quietly returned to Libya and is now in prison there. Benotman said that he was told by the senior Libyan government official — whom he declined to publicly identify — that al-Libi is extremely ill, suffering from tuberculosis and diabetes. “He is there in jail and very sick,” Benotman [said]. He also said that the senior official told him that the Libyan government has agreed not to publicly confirm anything about al-Libi — out of deference to the Bush administration. “If the Libyans will confirm it, it will embarrass the Americans because he is linked to the Iraq issue,” Benotman said.
The most important question that needs asking just now, of course, is whether it was possible for al-Libi to commit suicide in a Libyan jail, or whether he was murdered. I doubt that we will ever find out the truth, but whatever the case, the focus on his death should not rest solely on Libya, which only took possession of him after the US administration had made use of him to justify the invasion of Iraq. Whatever al-Libi’s actual crimes, his use as a tool in a program of “extraordinary rendition” and torture, exploited shamelessly not to foil future terrorist plots but to yield false information about al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, remains a low point in a “War on Terror” that has few redeeming features.
POSTSCRIPT (June 5): In response to a query about the visit to al-Libi by representatives of Human Rights Watch, from blogger Eric Pottenger, who wrote a post about al-Libi here, I’ve realized that I need to clarify the doubts I expressed above about this visit, as mentioned in Ennahar Online. At the time (the evening of Sunday May 10), I wrote that I had “not yet had time to investigate” the claim, but that I found it “highly unlikely.” What I need to clarify is that I was suspicious at the time, because Algerian English language sources online are notoriously unreliable, but I spoke to Human Rights Watch on the Monday, and believe that their representatives did indeed see al-Libi in the prison, and that he refused to be interviewed by them, asking them only where they had been while he was being tortured, as I reported in a follow-up article on the Tuesday.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed, and see here for my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, published in March 2009.
For updates on the story, see: Dick Cheney And The Death Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, The “Suicide” Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi: Why The Media Silence?, Two Experts Cast Doubt On Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi’s “Suicide”, Lawrence Wilkerson Nails Cheney On Use Of Torture To Invade Iraq, In the Guardian: Death in Libya, betrayal by the West (in the Guardian here), Lawrence Wilkerson Nails Cheney’s Iraq Lies Again (And Rumsfeld And The CIA), and WORLD EXCLUSIVE: New Revelations About The Torture Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi.
For a sequence of articles dealing with the use of torture by the CIA, on “high-value detainees,” and in the secret prisons, see: Guantánamo’s tangled web: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Majid Khan, dubious US convictions, and a dying man (July 2007), Jane Mayer on the CIA’s “black sites,” condemnation by the Red Cross, and Guantánamo’s “high-value” detainees (including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) (August 2007), Waterboarding: two questions for Michael Hayden about three “high-value” detainees now in Guantánamo (February 2008), Six in Guantánamo Charged with 9/11 Murders: Why Now? And What About the Torture? (February 2008), The Insignificance and Insanity of Abu Zubaydah: Ex-Guantánamo Prisoner Confirms FBI’s Doubts (April 2008), Guantánamo Trials: Another Torture Victim Charged (Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri, July 2008), Secret Prison on Diego Garcia Confirmed: Six “High-Value” Guantánamo Prisoners Held, Plus “Ghost Prisoner” Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (August 2008), Will the Bush administration be held accountable for war crimes? (December 2008), The Ten Lies of Dick Cheney (Part One) and The Ten Lies of Dick Cheney (Part Two) (December 2008), Prosecuting the Bush Administration’s Torturers (March 2009), Abu Zubaydah: The Futility Of Torture and A Trail of Broken Lives (March 2009), Ten Terrible Truths About The CIA Torture Memos (Part One), Ten Terrible Truths About The CIA Torture Memos (Part Two), 9/11 Commission Director Philip Zelikow Condemns Bush Torture Program, Who Authorized The Torture of Abu Zubaydah? and CIA Torture Began In Afghanistan 8 Months before DoJ Approval, Even In Cheney’s Bleak World, The Al-Qaeda-Iraq Torture Story Is A New Low (all April 2009), Obama’s First 100 Days: Mixed Messages On Torture (May 2009). Also see the extensive archive of articles about the Military Commissions.
For other stories discussing the use of torture in secret prisons, see: An unreported story from Guantánamo: the tale of Sanad al-Kazimi (August 2007), Rendered to Egypt for torture, Mohammed Saad Iqbal Madni is released from Guantánamo (September 2008), A History of Music Torture in the “War on Terror” (December 2008), Seven Years of Torture: Binyam Mohamed Tells His Story (March 2009), and also see the extensive Binyam Mohamed archive. And for other stories discussing torture at Guantánamo and/or in “conventional” US prisons in Afghanistan, see: The testimony of Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes: includes allegations of previously unreported murders in the US prison at Bagram airbase (August 2007), Guantánamo Transcripts: “Ghost” Prisoners Speak After Five And A Half Years, And “9/11 hijacker” Recants His Tortured Confession (September 2007), The Trials of Omar Khadr, Guantánamo’s “child soldier” (November 2007), Former US interrogator Damien Corsetti recalls the torture of prisoners in Bagram and Abu Ghraib (December 2007), Guantánamo’s shambolic trials (February 2008), Torture allegations dog Guantánamo trials (March 2008), Sami al-Haj: the banned torture pictures of a journalist in Guantánamo (April 2008), Former Guantánamo Prosecutor Condemns “Chaotic” Trials in Case of Teenage Torture Victim (Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld on Mohamed Jawad, January 2009), Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo’s Forgotten Child (Mohammed El-Gharani, January 2009), Bush Era Ends With Guantánamo Trial Chief’s Torture Confession (Susan Crawford on Mohammed al-Qahtani, January 2009), Forgotten in Guantánamo: British Resident Shaker Aamer (March 2009), and the extensive archive of articles about the Military Commissions.
Who's still at Guantánamo?
75 Responses
The BRAD BLOG : Prisoner, Whose False Tortured Confession of Iraq/al-Qaeda Tie Was Used as Basis for Bush's War, Found Dead in Libyan Prison says...
[…] has excellent coverage of the story tonight, which, he says, is “ablaze” in the Arabic media, but so far unreported in all but one […]
...on May 11th, 2009 at 3:18 am
Thomas says...
Gee, Sooo strange how the ONES that HELPED to “PONY up the illegal bush WARS Anthrax guy Ivins and now Al Qaeta guy Libi They kill themselves…
It*s..so..CONVENIENT..for..the..CABAL
who FIXED the evidence……. Yaa, DEAD men seldomTESTIFY……………….
Hey…They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
They..did..it..for..us…Not the oil….
...on May 11th, 2009 at 5:13 am
Frances Madeson says...
Capture, rendition, torture, imprisonment in a Libyan jail, tuberculosis, diabetes, and suicide, or capture, rendition, torture, imprisonment in a Libyan jail, tuberculosis, diabetes, and murdered. Hell of a choice.
...on May 11th, 2009 at 6:10 am
nation of gandhis says...
Remnants of the Cheney/Boosh private hit squad now running via private funds? MMM , via Blackwater??? OR NOW XE? It could not be easily dissmissed that private individuals could be responsible. Especially since Bush/Cheney worked so hard to get Iran and Libya out from under U.S. Sanctions after the U.S. Iraqi invasion in 2003 so Halliburton could do business there after both countries were under sanction for years but Halliburton claimed immunity due to offshore business address.
Where is the media follow up to the private hit squad Cheney and Bush were running? We are all the media. Fear not death by private hit squad. Speak OUT. They can’t kill everyone.
I doubt they would follow any international law as since they did not while they were in office.
...on May 11th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Prisoner Who Tied Iraq to Al-Qaeda Found Dead in Libyan Jail | We Are Change Seattle says...
[…] has excellent coverage of the story tonight, which, he says, is “ablaze” in the Arabic media, but so far unreported in all but one […]
...on May 11th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
R.F. BACHARAC says...
What a shame … so cheney-bush / haliburton / private (albeit US taxpayer paid for) blackwater / xe mercinary army are performing some strategic “mopping up” of their tracks. It’s a shame there isn’t a super-patriot / benefactor out there who would put up a trunk full of money as a reward to loosen some lips in Libia (or elsewhere) about what really happened.
...on May 11th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
al-Libi dies in Libyan prison « Later On says...
[…] Sheikh al-Libi. What became of al-Libi has been ripe discussion ever since he was disappeared. From Andy Worthington (h/t Barb) we learn of al-Libi’s demise: The Arabic media is ablaze with the news that Ibn […]
...on May 11th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison | Andy Worthington « euraktiva says...
[…] via Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison | Andy Worthington. […]
...on May 11th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
1 Boring Old Man » another piece of the puzzle… says...
[…] on Monday 11 May 2009 Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison […]
...on May 11th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
CIA ghost prisoner Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi “committed suicide” in Libyan cell « The Lift – Legal Issues in the Fight against Terrorism says...
[…] at least 2005, was found dead in his cell in Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. The Libyan newspaper Oea first reported al-Libi’s death on May 10, saying that he had committed suicide and that an investigation had […]
...on May 12th, 2009 at 9:37 am
the talking dog says...
Well, the timing of this gruesome revelation is most interesting, coming as it is the same time that Rush Limbaugh/Dick Cheney have decided to declare Colin Powell himself as political persona non grata, we learn that Colin’s chief “source” has, conveniently, been “rendered” beyond further questioning.
This, of course, takes us back to the “evil” side of the “evil-stupid” continuum describing the behaviour of the Bush Administration; they knew bloody well that torture was not about “actionable intelligence,” but was entirely about ginning up false confessions to helpful manufactured “realities.”
Seeing as Dick Cheney himself is now running around the country begging to be investigated, if not indicted, I suggest we pressure our legislators and the President to oblige him.
...on May 12th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Daniel says...
suicide or murder, he died in a Libyan jail, just like so many hundreds before him… when are we going to get Ghadafi to the Hague for all his crimes against humanity?
...on May 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Mark Eichenlaub says...
al Libi was by no means the only member of al Qaeda saying there were links to Iraq.
By the way, why is it so hard to believe that SOME members of al Qaeda wanted WMD from a state sponsor of terrorism who hated the U.S. and was widely believed to have WMD know-how?
...on May 12th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Ron says...
Mark-
Iraq never had ‘know-how’; They had the actual WMD we gave them to kill Iranians, and later Kurds, in the war in which we backed them. By 2000, those weapons were long gone. Al Qaeda was a small band of Sunni Arabs who helped drive The Soviets out of Afghanistan. They were also militant Muslims, and as such were the last thing Sadam Hussein wanted gaining ground anywhere close to him.
The only people linking Iraq to Al Qaeda were lying. Put me in a coffin for 17 hours, and I’ll tell you I’m the #2 man for Al Qaeda in Iraq, if it keeps me out of the coffin.
...on May 12th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Suspicious timing: Sheikh al-Libi’s Death « Later On says...
[…] at 3:31 pm by LeisureGuy Extremely interesting post from Marcy Wheeler: Since Andy Worthington reported on Sheikh al-Libi’s death over the weekend, a few more details on timing have come […]
...on May 12th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Prisoner Who Tied Iraq to Al-Qaeda Found Dead in Libyan Jail « Muslim in Suffer says...
[…] has excellent coverage of the story tonight, which, he says, is “ablaze” in the Arabic media, but so far unreported in all […]
...on May 13th, 2009 at 2:40 am
Dick Cheney And The Death Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] Libya comes news of the death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a former “ghost prisoner” of the United States, whose false confession about a connection […]
...on May 13th, 2009 at 4:26 am
1 Boring Old Man » torture, now murder?… says...
[…] of the Bush desaparecidos has been reportedly found dead of a suicide in a Libyan prison. Awfully convenient that it was the one detainee that caused so much angst for […]
...on May 13th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Should we torture terrorists? says...
[…] ‘ CQ Politics | CQ Transcript: Former Vice President Cheney on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison | Andy Worthington washingtonpost.com IG Report: Waterboarding Was Neither "Efficacious Or Medically […]
...on May 13th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
margaretta swigert-gacheru says...
Who can assume a dead man was guilty of anything other than being in wrong place at wrong time. al-libi a scapegoat for a war on terror, picked up when? dec.2001. The torturers — those who set the policies of water boarding & all other forms of torture will pay one day.
...on May 13th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Aquilles Meo de la Torre says...
Are you people forgetting who we are fighting against ?
Where were you on 9/11 – ?
Where was your concern when Daniel Pearl was decapitated ?
Do you not believe that Saddam had WMDs ? He did, we (USA) probably supplied most of them
Here’s a FACT – We are currently engaged in a world-wide struggle for the outcome of Civilization as we know it.
One side espouses modern values, including Freedom or religion and speech, equality for women, and progress,
The other side wants to install by force a 7th century Radical Islamic Caliphate, headed by Al Qaeda and using the Taliban as Shock Troops..
Get a clue, People, this is not a Tennis match..These Islamo-Fascists make the Dictators of the past century look like neophytes by comparison..
...on May 13th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
USA: Gitmo prisoner found dead-AlterNet « FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand says...
[…] article provides an overview of the story of the death of U.S. “high-value detainee” Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, his “extraordinary rendition” by the CIA, and the torture that led to his false […]
...on May 14th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
The Dead Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi… « Back Towards The Locus says...
[…] May 14, 2009, 7:42 pm Filed under: Uncategorized Today’s diktat demands that you read these fine articles by Andy Worthington… “The Arabic media is ablaze with the news that Ibn […]
...on May 14th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
The “Suicide” Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi: Why The Media Silence? « Israelis wars on muslims indicates the beginning of the fall of the American Empire! says...
[…] been about 16 hours since we covered indie journalist / historian / blogger Andy Worthington’s detailed report on the reported suicide of the man who falsely “confessed,” during torture, to a false tie […]
...on May 14th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Two Experts Cast Doubt On Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi’s “Suicide” « Israelis wars on muslims indicates the beginning of the fall of the American Empire! says...
[…] I picked up on the breaking story of the death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi on Sunday evening (with follow-up articles here and here), there was considerable interest from […]
...on May 14th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Two Experts Cast Doubt On Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi’s “Suicide” by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] I picked up on the breaking story of the death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi on Sunday evening (with follow-up articles here and here), there was considerable interest from […]
...on May 14th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Cheney, the Movie « Just Above Sunset says...
[…] As for that convenient suicide, see Andy Worthington: […]
...on May 15th, 2009 at 5:44 am
Death in Libya, betrayal in the west - Front Page News - NewsSpotz says...
[…] Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi but the west has colluded in the mistreatment of Libyan dissidentsNews of the death, in a Libyan jail, of Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi, a US terror suspect who was the subject of an […]
...on May 15th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Death in Libya, betrayal in the west | Ramblings says...
[…] of the death, in a Libyan jail, of Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi, a US terror suspect who was the subject of an […]
...on May 15th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
al-Libi Dies in a Libyan Prison | No Bull. news service. says...
[…] Sheikh al-Libi. What became of al-Libi has been ripe discussion ever since he was disappeared. From Andy Worthington (h/t Barb) we learn of al-Libi’s […]
...on May 27th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Life After Guantánamo: Lakhdar Boumediene Speaks by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] which was closed down by the Taliban in 2000 after its emir, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (who recently died in a Libyan jail), refused to work with […]
...on May 30th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Reprieve twitters the following: USS Bat… « Talk Islam says...
[…] more on the significance of al-Libi see Andy Worthington and Scott Horton.) […]
...on May 30th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Revealed: Identity Of Guantánamo Torture Victim Rendered Through Diego Garcia by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] tentatively identifying the other as Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the former “ghost prisoner” who died in a Libyan jail last month). A dual Pakistani-Egyptian national, seized in Jakarta, Indonesia, and rendered for […]
...on June 4th, 2009 at 4:34 am
New Revelations About The Torture Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] the story first emerged last month that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (whose real name was Ali Abdul Hamid al-Fakheri) had died in a Libyan […]
...on June 18th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Andy Worthington Discusses Guantánamo on Democracy Now! « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] in which I presented new information about the CIA’s most notorious “ghost prisoner,” who died in a Libyan jail last month, but who, in 2002, while being tortured in Egypt, produced a false confession about a connection […]
...on June 24th, 2009 at 1:34 am
1 Boring Old Man » individuals… says...
[…] Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison […]
...on June 28th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
The BRAD BLOG : History of CIA Torture: Unraveling the Web of Deceit, Part IV says...
[…] rendition — certainly not Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the “emir” of an al Qaeda training camp, who was picked up by Pakistani forces in December 2001, turned over to US custody at a time when, according to the […]
...on July 14th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Lawrence Wilkerson Nails Cheney On Use Of Torture To Invade Iraq by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] 2003, in an attempt to encourage the UN to approve the forthcoming invasion of Iraq, and it was al-Libi’s death last Sunday in a Libyan prison that brought the full horror of this story back to […]
...on August 27th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Emptywheel » Timing and the Sheikh al-Libi Death says...
[…] Andy Worthington reported on Sheikh al-Libi’s death over the weekend, a few more details on timing have come […]
...on October 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
The Logic of the 9/11 Trials, The Madness of the Military Commissions « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] in 2006, after spending over four years in a series of proxy prisons or prisons run by the CIA, he died in mysterious circumstances in May this year. Zubaydah, who is still in Guantánamo, but has not been put forward for a trial, […]
...on November 18th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Gitmo Prisoner “suicided”? | NO LIES RADIO says...
[…] he was, after seven long years imprisonment, to meet finally with an attorney, brings to mind the untimely death of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, also at first reported as a suicide, in a prison cell in Libya last May. […]
...on November 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 am
Dark Revelations in the Bagram Prisoner List « freedetainees.org says...
[…] prisons and others run by the CIA, he was returned to Libya, where he died, allegedly by committing suicide, in May last […]
...on January 20th, 2010 at 12:48 am
UN Secret Detention Report Asks, “Where Are the CIA Ghost Prisoners?” « freedetainees.org says...
[…] These five include Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the CIA’s most notorious “ghost prisoner,” who falsely confessed, under torture in Egypt, that there were connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, which were subsequently used to justify the invasion of Iraq. After multiple renditions to other countries, al-Libi’s return to Libya came to a dark end last May, when he died under mysterious circumstances. […]
...on January 28th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
“¿Dónde están los prisioneros fantasma de la CIA?” | Amauta says...
[…] Entre estos cinco últimos figura Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, el “prisionero fantasma” más tristemente célebre de la CIA, quien confesó en falso, bajo las torturas a que le sometieron en Egipto, que había conexiones entre al-Qaida y Saddam Hussein, lo que se utilizó posteriormente para justificar la invasión de Iraq. Después de múltiples entregas a otros países, el retorno de al-Libi a Libia llegó a un final tenebroso en mayo pasado, cuando murió en misteriosas circunstancias. […]
...on February 3rd, 2010 at 2:06 am
1 Boring Old Man » we’ll be the better for the knowing… says...
[…] the connection between Iraq and al Qaeda. It probably cost him his life. His story as summarized by Andy Worthington: The Arabic media is ablaze with the news that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the emir of an Afghan […]
...on April 22nd, 2010 at 6:26 am
Militant Libertarian » Why is a Yemeni Student in Guantánamo, Cleared on Three Occasions, Still Imprisoned? says...
[…] damaged gatekeeper for a training camp that was closed down by the Taliban because its leader, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (another victim of CIA-directed torture), refused to cooperate with […]
...on June 2nd, 2010 at 2:17 am
FreeWestRadio.com » Blog Archive » Why is a Yemeni Student in Guantánamo, Cleared on Three Occasions, Still Imprisoned? says...
[…] damaged gatekeeper for a training camp that was closed down by the Taliban because its leader, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (another victim of CIA-directed torture), refused to cooperate with […]
...on June 2nd, 2010 at 9:55 pm
What is Obama Doing at Bagram? (Part One): Torture and the Black Prison « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] on the multiple renditions of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was finally returned to Libya, where he died in a prison last May, and in the leaked report by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the 14 “high-value […]
...on June 3rd, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Bush Brags About His War Crimes To Grand Rapids Michigan Crowd. « American Commentary Blog says...
[…] and speculating on the reported death by suicide in a Libyan jail by al-Libi, Worthington further wrote The most important question that needs asking just now, of course, is whether it was possible for […]
...on June 30th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
New Evidence About Prisoners Held in Secret CIA Prisons in Poland and Romania : says...
[…] according to another account, by a Libyan who talked to al-Libi in a prison in Tripoli before his suspicious death last May, he was rendered from Egypt to prisons in Mauritania, Morocco and Jordan, before his return to […]
...on August 3rd, 2010 at 6:15 pm
On Bush’s Waterboarding Claims, UK Media Loses Its Moral Compass « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] was sent to Egypt by the CIA where, under torture — including, it seems, waterboarding — he falsely confessed that Saddam Hussein was advising al-Qaeda members on the use of chemical weapons. This claim made […]
...on November 10th, 2010 at 2:12 am
Amnesty International Wants Bush Prosecuted for Admitted Waterboarding says...
[…] It was only then that, al-Libi said, he made up the story about Iraqi weapons training.” Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison | Andy Worthington Originally Posted by liblady Maybe you're not so bad after all. Reply […]
...on November 11th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
WikiLeaks: Numerous Reasons to Dismiss US Claims that “Ghost Prisoner” Aafia Siddiqui Was Not Held in Bagram + Bring Aafia Home « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] prisons — he was returned to Libya, where, implausibly but conveniently for the US and LIbya, he died, reportedly by committing suicide, in May […]
...on December 6th, 2010 at 3:01 am
Revolution in Egypt – and the Hypocrisy of the US and the West « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] torture prisons run by or on behalf of the CIA, al-Libi was eventually returned to Libya, where he died in prison in May 2009, allegedly by committing suicide — although no one who knows anything about “suicides” in […]
...on February 2nd, 2011 at 6:32 am
As Mubarak Resigns, Ex-Guantánamo Prisoner Mamdouh Habib Reminds the World that Omar Suleiman Personally Tortured Him in Egypt [ 74874 ] « band annie's Weblog says...
[…] you think that a similar process must also have taken place with Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, whose death in a Libyan prison in May 2009 suited three parties — the US, the Libyans, and the Egyptians, who had been somewhat […]
...on February 11th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Ex-Guantánamo Prisoner Reminds World Suleiman Personally Tortured Him « Eurasia Review says...
[…] you think that a similar process must also have taken place with Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, whose death in a Libyan prison in May 2009 suited three parties — the US, the Libyans, and the Egyptians, who had been somewhat […]
...on February 11th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Revolution in Libya: Protestors Respond to Gaddafi’s Murderous Backlash with Remarkable Courage; US and UK Look Like the Hypocrites They Are | NO LIES RADIO says...
[…] moved around various other secret prisons, he was returned to Libya, where he conveniently died, reportedly by committing suicide, in May 2009, just three days before the US reopened its embassy in […]
...on February 22nd, 2011 at 6:57 am
Revolution in Libya: Protestors Respond to Gaddafi’s Murderous Backlash with Remarkable Courage « Eurasia Review says...
[…] moved around various other secret prisons, he was returned to Libya, where he conveniently died, reportedly by committing suicide, in May 2009, just three days before the US reopened its embassy in […]
...on February 22nd, 2011 at 9:17 am
After Recent Ruling in the Case of Bin Laden’s Cook, Guantánamo Should Close by July 2012 « Eurasia Review says...
[…] were used to justify the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, and later returned to Libya, where he died in mysterious circumstances in May […]
...on February 23rd, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Revolution in Libya: Protesters Face Gaddafi’s Murderous Backlash as US, UK Ooze Hypocrisy | Amauta says...
[…] moved around various other secret prisons, he was returned to Libya, where he conveniently died, reportedly by committing suicide, in May 2009, just three days before the US reopened its embassy in […]
...on February 23rd, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Torture And Terrorism: In Middle East It’s 2011, In America It’s Still 2001 – OpEd « Eurasia Review says...
[…] weapons, a tortured lie that, although retracted by al-Libi (who was later returned to Libya and a suspicious death by “suicide” in 2009), was used by the Bush administration to justify its illegal invasion of Iraq in March 2003, when […]
...on April 2nd, 2011 at 12:48 pm
WikiLeaks Reveals Secret Guantánamo Files, Exposes Detention Policy as a Construct of Lies « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] at some point, probably in 2006, the CIA sent him back to Libya, where he was imprisoned, and where he died, allegedly by committing suicide, in May […]
...on April 25th, 2011 at 11:49 pm
The Hidden Horrors of WikiLeaks’ Guantánamo Files | Amauta says...
[…] Although JTF-GTMO, the Joint Task Force at Guantánamo, responsible for creating these files, has done a good job of creating the illusion of coherent intelligence dossiers, an illusion is all it is. On close inspection, the files are full of lies and distortions, with certain figures appearing over and over again. They include “high-value detainees” like Abu Zubaydah, waterboarded 83 times and held for four and a half years in secret CIA prisons, and Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, tortured in Egypt until he falsely confessed that there were connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein (used to justify the invasion of Iraq in March 2003), who was finally sent back to Libya to be murdered. […]
...on April 27th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
The Hidden Horrors of WikiLeaks’ Guantánamo Files | Common Dreams « 2012 Indy Info says...
[…] Although JTF-GTMO, the Joint Task Force at Guantánamo, responsible for creating these files, has done a good job of creating the illusion of coherent intelligence dossiers, an illusion is all it is. On close inspection, the files are full of lies and distortions, with certain figures appearing over and over again. They include “high-value detainees” like Abu Zubaydah,waterboarded 83 times and held for four and a half years in secret CIA prisons, and Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, tortured in Egypt until he falsely confessed that there were connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein (used to justify the invasion of Iraq in March 2003), who was finally sent back to Libya to be murdered. […]
...on April 27th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Ten Years After 9/11 America Deserves Better Than Dick Cheney’s Self-Serving Autobiography - OpEd says...
[…] they and their country have become.Note: For more on the bleak story of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, see Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison and WORLD EXCLUSIVE: New Revelations About The Torture Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi. For more on the […]
...on September 11th, 2011 at 12:00 am
Police: 2 Georgia Caregivers Waterboard 89-Year-Old Woman - Page 2 - Political Wrinkles says...
[…] in a foolish attempt to extract information. An even more consequential example is the torture of Ibn al Shaykh al Libi, from whom we extracted a false confession under torture and then used that false confession to […]
...on November 20th, 2011 at 6:17 pm
Hiding Horrific Tales of Torture: How Guantanamo Fuels Injustice (Andy Worthington) says...
[…] emir, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, although al-Libi cannot provide any information himself, as he died in mysterious circumstances in a Libyan prison in May 2009. His death conveniently prevents the US from having to account for […]
...on December 16th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Arab News Blog » How Torture Misled the US into an Illegal War: What Zero Dark Thirty Really Leaves Out says...
[…] I made this point when al-Qaeda operative Ibn Shaykh al-Libi died in a Qaddafi prison in 2009: The best refutation of Dick Cheney’s insistence that torture was necessary and useful in dealing with threats from al-Qaeda just died in a Libyan prison. See also Andy Worthington. […]
...on January 15th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
How Torture Misled the US into an Illegal War: What Zero Dark Thirty Really Leaves Out | Informed Comment says...
[…] I made this point when al-Qaeda operative Ibn Shaykh al-Libi died in a Qaddafi prison in 2009: The best refutation of Dick Cheney’s insistence that torture was necessary and useful in dealing with threats from al-Qaeda just died in a Libyan prison. See also Andy Worthington. […]
...on January 17th, 2013 at 9:06 am
How Colin Powell Showed That Torture Works » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names says...
[…] al-Libi recanted to the CIA, he was eventually shipped off to Libya where he died in a prison cell. The newspaper of one of Qaddafi’s son’s claimed it was a suicide. As Juan Cole wrote […]
...on February 6th, 2013 at 4:27 pm
Rachel Maddow: Iraq WMD Fraud Exposé Will Cause “Political Upset” | BirchIndigo says...
[…] al-Libi recanted everything, admitting he lied to save his life. By 2009, al-Libi was found dead in a Libyan prison cell after human rights attorneys took an interest in him. But the CIA knew […]
...on February 18th, 2013 at 1:10 am
The “Suicide” Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi: Why The Media Silence? by Andy Worthington | Dandelion Salad says...
[…] been about 16 hours since we covered indie journalist / historian / blogger Andy Worthington’s detailed report on the reported suicide of the man who falsely “confessed,” during torture, to a false tie […]
...on November 16th, 2013 at 9:30 am
Torture and Terrorism: In the Middle East It’s 2011, In America It’s Still 2001 | Official Website of James Landrith says...
[…] a tortured lie that, although retracted by al-Libi (who was later returned to Libya and a suspicious death by “suicide” in 2009), was used by the Bush administration to justify its illegal invasion of […]
...on September 1st, 2015 at 3:01 pm
After Guantánamo, Shaker Aamer’s BBC Interview | PopularResistance.Org says...
[…] of Iraq in 2003. Al-Libi later recanted his lies, but was returned to Col. Gaddafi in Libya, where he died in prison in May 2009, allegedly by committing suicide, although that explanation has always seemed extremely […]
...on December 19th, 2015 at 3:09 am
UN Secret Detention Report Asks, “Where Are The CIA Ghost Prisoners?” by Andy Worthington – Dandelion Salad says...
[…] These five include Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the CIA’s most notorious “ghost prisoner,” who falsely confessed, under torture in Egypt, that there were connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, which were subsequently used to justify the invasion of Iraq. After multiple renditions to other countries (which I exposed last June), al-Libi’s return to Libya came to a dark end last May, when he died under mysterious circumstances. […]
...on March 1st, 2019 at 3:51 pm