49-year-old Nazih al-Ragye, known by the alias Abu Anas al Libi, is due to appear Tuesday in federal court in New York 10 days after U.S. Army Delta Force soldiers seized him outside his house in Tripoli Libya, CNN reported. Al Libi is an alleged a Qaeda operative accused of playing a key role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 civilians, Reuters reported.
U.S. officials said that the al Qaeda suspects was initially taken to a Navy ship for questioning before he was taken to the United States over the weekend.
President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have stated that they prefer to try suspected terrorist-plotters, like al Libi in American courts, something that has drawn the ire of some politicians.
"It shows the inherent flaws in the U.S. policy decision to try in the U.S. because once you arrive on U.S. soil, that ends the interrogation of these high-value detainees," New York House Rep. Peter King said.
AG Holder said in 2009 that five detainees with alleged ties to the September 11 terrorist attack would be transferred from Guantanamo Bay to New York for trial in civilian court, before reversing course. He later announced that accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others would be tried in a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.
"The administration's position on Guantanamo is clear: Our goal is not to add to the population, it's to reduce it, which we've done. Our policy is not to send any new detainees to Guantanamo," said Marie Harf, the State Department deputy spokeswoman.
Al Libi was indicted by the federal court in the Southern District of New York in 2001 in connection for his "alleged roles in al Qaeda conspiracies to attack U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia," CNN reported.
Some terrorism experts do not how much valuable al Libi could still provide, given that a former jihadist told CNN last week that it was unlikely he still had an active role with al Qaeda.
Regardless, Secretary of State John Kerry said that Al-Libi's seizure in Tripoli complied with U.S. law, saying he was a "legal and appropriate target" for the military and will face justice in a court of law.
"I hope the perception is in the world that people who commit acts of terror and who have been appropriately indicted by courts of law, by the legal process, will know that United States of America is going to do anything in its power that is legal and appropriate in order to enforce the law and to protect our security," Kerry told reporters last week at an Asia-Pacific economic conference in Indonesia.
"I think it's important for people in the world not to sympathize with alleged terrorists but to underscore the importance of the rule of law," Kerry added.
