A Libyan militant whose false information about ties between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda was used by the Bush administration as part of its justification for war in Iraq died in a prison in Libya, a newspaper in the North African country reported. The militant, Ali Mohammed Abdel-Aziz al-Fakheri, known by his nom de guerre, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, hanged himself late last week, according to the newspaper, Oea.

There was no official confirmation of his death from Libyan officials or state news media. Libi was captured in Pakistan in 2001 and later sent by the CIA to Egypt, where he was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques. It later emerged that he had fabricated his stories about Iraq to try to avoid harsh treatment by his Egyptian captors. He was handed over to Libya in late 2005 or early 2006, and sentenced to life in prison there. (Jurist, May 21)

There seem to be an awful lot of guys named al-Libi mixed up in various al-Qaeda intrigues. Is this late al-Libi the same as this one?

See our last posts on al-Qaeda and Libya.

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