Abdullah Senussi | |
---|---|
Born |
Gira, Libya |
5 November 1952
Nationality | Libyan |
Citizenship | Libyan |
Occupation | Head of Libyan Military Intelligence |
Abdullah (al) Senussi ( pronunciation ahb-DUH-lah al seh-NOO-see; born 5 December 1949) is a Libyan national who was the intelligence chief and brother-in-law of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. He was married to Gaddafi's sister-in-law.
Scottish police officers plan to interview him in connection with the Lockerbie bombing, raising the prospect of a second Lockerbie trial.
According to The Guardian, Sanussi has had a reputation for brutality since the 1970s. During the 1980s he was head of internal security in Libya, at a time when many opponents of Gaddafi were killed. Later, he was described as the head of military intelligence, but it is unclear whether he actually held an official rank. In 1999 he was convicted in absentia in France for his role in a 1989 bombing of a passenger plane flying over Niger that resulted in the deaths of 170 people. Libyans believe he was responsible for massacring 1,200 prisoners at the Abu Salim prison in 1996. He was also thought to have been behind an alleged plot in 2003 to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.