France to Seek Gadhafi Spymaster's Extradition
French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday hailed the arrest in Mauritania of Abdullah al-Senussi, the spymaster of Moammar Gadhafi, and will seek his extradition to France, his office said.
Senussi faced an international arrest warrant after a Paris court sentenced him in absentia to life for his alleged involvement in an attack on a French airliner in 1989 that killed 170 people, a statement from the Elysee said.
Senussi was arrested overnight at Nouakchott airport after arriving on a regular flight from Casablanca, Morocco carrying a fake Malian passport, a Mauritanian security official said.
The president's office said the arrest was the result of "joint efforts by French and Mauritanian authorities" and that Libyan authorities were kept informed throughout,
"This detention will lead in the coming hours to a demand by France to Mauritanian authorities that he be detained with a view to extradition," the office said in a statement.
Libya also wants Mauritania to extradite Senussi, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, the government in Tripoli said on Saturday.
"Telephone calls are underway by Libyan authorities to request his extradition," spokesman Salah al-Manaa told a news conference in Tripoli.
He added that the prosecutor general had also sent an extradition request to the Mauritanian government through Interpol.
The government "is ready to receive Abdullah al-Senussi and to detain him in a Libyan prison and to give him a fair trial in Libya," Manaa said, adding that the spymaster was accompanied at the time of his arrest "by someone who is believed to be his son."
Source: Agence France Presse
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