07-10-2013, 08:18 AM
They can ask all they like but I doubt anyone will be answering. At least with any truth.
"It is highly relevant to our work on asylum and we will want to examine very carefully whether the proper checks were made."
Quote:British MPs to ask why al-Qaeda kingpin Abu Anas al-Libi was given asylum in the UK
Questions will be asked in Parliament as to why Abu Anas al-Libi, who was captured by US special forces in Libya, had previously been allowed to live in Britain from where he eventually fled
By Ashraf Abdulwahhab, in Tripoli, Richard Spencer and Tom Whitehead
8:24PM BST 06 Oct 2013
MPs are to question the Home Secretary Theresa May as to why one of the world's most wanted al Qaeda terror suspects, captured by US special forces this weekend, was previously given political asylum and allowed to live in Britain.
Abu Anas al-Libi, a trusted lieutenant of Osama bin Laden and at one time al-Qaeda's chief computer expert, was snatched on Saturday in a US Delta Force operation in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Al-Libi, whose real name is Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqaie, was given asylum in Britain in 1995 and it is alleged he helped plan the twin attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1998 in which 224 people were killed.
According to a former FBI official he was taken in for questioning by police in Manchester after the bombings but was released and fled the country. When his house in the city was finally raided by police, they discovered a 180-page al-Qaeda manual on methods of carrying out terror attacks and assassinations.
On Sunday it was revealed that al-Libi had been hiding "in plain sight" in Tripoli despite a $5 million bounty having been put on his head by the US.
He is thought to have returned to Libya as the uprising against Col Muammar Gaddafi began in February 2011 and had been living with his family in the east of the city.
His son, Abdullah al-Ruqaie, described the Delta Force snatch to the The Daily Telegraph saying that it included men speaking Libyan dialect Arabic among the squad suggesting a degree of cooperation with the local authorities which they later denied.
"He was coming back from the mosque, at 6:38 in the morning," he said.
"Four vehicles stopped by his car, in front of the house, and ten masked and unmasked men came out, broke the car window on the steering wheel side, drugged him, and took him.
"He was kidnapped in front of the house not inside. If he had been kidnapped inside the house we would not have let them take him without a fight."
Al Libi was last night "lawfully detained by the U.S. military in a secure location outside of Libya", according to the Pentagon.
But questions will now be asked how he came to be given political asylum in Britain, despite his known involvement in a Libyan terrorist organisation and a long previous association with bin Laden, and how he was able to flee the country.
Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said al-Libi's case will be raised with the Home Secretary, when she appears before MPs on Tuesday.
He said he wanted to ensure all the proper processes were undertaken with a man who was possibly known to the security and intelligence agencies at the time.
"We will want to look at the background of this case and will question the Home Secretary about it," said Mr Vaz.
"It is highly relevant to our work on asylum and we will want to examine very carefully whether the proper checks were made."
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.