Anas al-Liby

Involvement with al-Qaeda Al-Libi was believed to have been tied to al-Qaeda since its 1988 roots in Afghanistan.

Al-Libi spoke Arabic and English. He had a scar on the left side of his face. Because he was tall and bore a passing resemblance to Osama bin Laden, he was often used as a decoy when Bin Laden traveled.

Conflicting reports of whereabouts In January 2002, news reports stated that al-Libi had been captured by American forces in Afghanistan. In March 2002, it was reported that he had been arrested by the Sudanese government and was being held in a prison in Khartoum. U.S. officials soon denied those reports and al-Libi was still sought.

In February 2007, a Human Rights Watch document claimed that al-Libi and others "may have once been held" in secret detention by the CIA.

On 7 June 2007, al-Libi, who remained on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list, was listed as a possible CIA "secret prisoner" by Amnesty International, without providing details or evidence.

In September 2012, CNN reported that al-Libi returned to Libya after being imprisoned in Iran for seven years.

Captured by the United States

Al-Libi was captured in Tripoli, Libya, on 5 October 2013 by U.S. Army Delta Force operators, with the assistance of FBI agents and CIA officers. He was seized in a pre-dawn raid and removed from Libya. The US Navy's DEVGRU conducted a simultaneous raid in Somalia targeting the alleged mastermind of the Westgate shopping mall attack in Kenya, possibly to avoid either action sending the other target into hiding. A day after Al-Libi was captured, he was in military custody on the ship USS San Antonio in the Mediterranean Sea. On 10 February 2014, a 30 seconds CCTV video showing U.S. commandos capturing al-Libi was published by The Washington Post.

Court appearance On 15 October 2013, al-Libi appeared in a Manhattan federal court and pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges, including helping to plan the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. He was held without bail due to concerns that he was a flight risk and a danger to the community. His trial, along with his co-defendant Khalid al-Fawwaz, a.k.a. "Khaled Abdul Rahman Hamad al Fawwaz," a.k.a. "Abu Omar," a.k.a. "Hamad," was scheduled to begin on 3 November 2014, before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

Death Abu Anas Al-Libi died on 2 January 2015 at a hospital in New York, aged 50, while in the United States custody. He reportedly had liver disease as a result of hepatitis C, and liver cancer. Upon his death his wife said "I accuse the American government of kidnapping, mistreating, and killing an innocent man. He did nothing."

Personal life Al-Libi was married and the father of four boys. He was believed to have been connected to Ramadan Abedi, the father of Salman Abedi, the perpetrator of the Manchester Arena bombing.

Aliases RomanisedArabicNotes Nazih Abdul-Hamed Nabih al-Ruqai'i نزيه عبد الحمد نبيه الرقيعي The surname is spelled الراجعي in the UN list. Anas al-Libi أنس الليبي Abu Anas al-Libi أبو أنس الليبي Some Arabic press reports referred to him by this name. Anas al-Sebai أنس السباعي Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Raghie نزيه عبد الحمد الراغي