ISLAMABAD, 1 June 2005 — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday top Al-Qaeda terror suspect Abu Faraj Al-Libbi had been handed over to the United States for prosecution, even though the man is believed behind two assassination attempts against him and could have received the death penalty here.
“I presume that he may have been deported already to the United States,” Musharraf told a CNN conference in Atlanta, speaking via video hookup from Islamabad, adding till three days ago Al-Libbi was in Pakistan.
Musharraf said Al-Libbi had been cooperating but had not provided any useful information on the whereabouts of terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden, and that Pakistan has no interest in keeping him.
“We deport Al-Qaeda suspects to the United States,” Musharraf said.
Al-Libbi is the alleged mastermind of two attempts on Musharraf’s life in December 2003, and a bid to assassinate Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before he assumed office last year.
Asked why Pakistan had deported Al-Libbi to the United States when he was involved on two assassination attempts on him, Musharraf said there were “bigger issues” involved.
“He did attack me twice, he was the mastermind behind the attack but then there is lot of other more important issues of his role in Al-Qaeda and his information and intelligence which needs to be corroborated with all the other intelligence that is available through interrogation of other Al-Qaeda personalities whom we have apprehended.”
“Therefore there are bigger issues involved and finally we will come to his trial later,” he said.
Al-Libbi was arrested May 2 after a shootout in northwestern Pakistan. At the time, a senior intelligence officer said he had been in frequent contact with Bin Laden in recent months and that Pakistani interrogators were grilling him on the terror chief’s whereabouts.
