Libyan revolutionary leader to sue Britain

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197521.html

A Libyan revolutionary leader has demanded an apology from the British officials as he announced plans to sue the government realizing Britain's role in his rendition.

Abdel Hakim Belhadj (also known as Abdullah al-Sadiq), the military commander who led the revolutionary forces into the Libyan capital Tripoli, was detained by the US's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Malaysia in 2004 over the suspicions of having links to Al-Qaeda.

The American forces transferred Belhadj to Thailand for interrogation. Nonetheless, after the interrogation, they rendered Belhadj to Libya delivering him to Gaddafi, apparently, in exchange for information which Gaddafi's agents had given to them.

Gaddafi regime sent Belhadj to its notorious Abu Salim prison where he was tortured and imprisoned for seven years.

Secret documents found by emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, revealed Britain's complicity in the rendition plot that delivered Belhadj to Gaddafi.

Bouckaert discovered a memo entitled “for the urgent personal attention of Musa Kusa” in an office used by Libya's former head of external security, Musa Kusa. The memo was dated March 18, 2004 with the address being “London SE1.”

Belhadj, the head of Tripoli's military council who commands about 8000 revolutionary forces in Libya, has asserted that the British government betrayed him when he sought asylum through the British High Commission in Malaysia in 2004.

“His suffering is very difficult to forget and he deserves a clear apology from the US and UK ... He may one day take legal action,” said a spokesman for Belhadj.

The revelations come as leaked documents revealed the British government's close relationship with Gaddafi's regime to the extent that Britain provided the regime with information about anti-Gaddafi activists living in the UK.

As the coalition government officials try to distance themselves from the revelations, some political analysts have broached the fact that the intelligence and Foreign Office staff are still in post, therefore the government should respond to the allegations.