Benghazi suspect captured in Libya: Trump

Benghazi suspect captured in Libya: Trump

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse
Benghazi suspect captured in Libya: Trump

US envoy Chris Stevens was killed during an attack on the American mission in Benghazi in 2012.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 30 that US special forces had captured a man linked to the 2012 attack on the American mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi.“Yesterday, on my orders, United States forces captured Mustafa al-Imam in Libya,” Trump said in a statement, which came as the White House was rocked by the indictment of three campaign aides.

Trump said Imam “will face justice in the United States for his alleged role in the September 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi.” 

Shortly afterwards, the US Attorney’s Office for Washington announced that Imam, described as being approximately 46 years old, had been charged.Under a recently unsealed three-charge complaint, Imam will be tried for “killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility involving a firearm.”    

He also faces a firearms charge and one of providing “material support to terrorists resulting in death.”    

An alleged mastermind of the attack, 46-year-old Ahmed Abu Khattala, is already on trial in the United States, accused of being a commander of the Ansar al-Sharia militia.

The attack killed US ambassador Chris Stevens as well as three other American personnel, and became emblematic of conservative opposition to then secretary of state Hillary Clinton. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson welcomed Trump’s announcement.