Benghazi raid suspect ‘freed’

In this file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the US Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, September 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya.

In this file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the US Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, September 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya.

Published Jan 8, 2013

Share

Tunis - Tunisia has freed, for lack of evidence, a Tunisian man who had been suspected of involvement in an Islamist militant attack in Libya last year in which the US ambassador was killed, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Ali Harzi was one of two Tunisians named in October by the Daily Beast website as having been detained in Turkey over the violence in which Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, and three other American officials were killed.

“The judge decided to free Harzi and he is free now,” lawyer Anouar Awled Ali told Reuters. “The release came in response to our request to free him for lack of evidence and after he underwent the hearing with American investigators as a witness in the case.”

A Tunisian justice ministry spokesman confirmed the release of Harzi but declined to elaborate.

A month ago, Harzi refused to be interviewed by visiting US FBI investigators over the September 11 assault on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

The Daily Beast reported that shortly after the attacks began, Harzi posted an update on an unspecified social media site about the fighting.

It said Harzi was on his way to Syria when he was detained in Turkey at the behest of US authorities, and that he was affiliated with a militant group in North Africa. - Reuters

Related Topics: