October 23, 2013 | Quote
Anas al-Liby’s Health Care During Terror Trial Could Gouge Taxpayers
Libya’s beleaguered Prime Minister Ali Zidan is likely to be hit by more political fallout from the U.S. nabbing two weeks ago of an al-Qaeda suspect off the streets of Tripoli, with Islamist politicians planning to use the American military action to try to oust him.
His Islamist opponents say they are pressing to discover whether anyone in Libya’s government gave the Obama administration the nod to seize alleged terrorist Abu Anas al-Liby. He was snatched on October 5 and whisked out of the country by a Special Forces team as he was returning from dawn prayers to his home in the middle-class Noufle’een district of the Libyan capital. Last week, he appeared in New York to answer charges of terrorism.
Meanwhile, more details are beginning to emerge about the seriousness of al-Liby’s medical condition. Last week, al-Liby’s family disclosed that he suffered from a Hepatitis C infection, contracted while he was imprisoned in Iran. But it now appears his health is more precarious than previously reported, with the virus far advanced—causing, among other complications, cirrhosis of the liver and an enlarged spleen. According to his family, the liver problems have been causing blackouts, and his immune system is highly fragile.
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Jonathan Schanzer of the Washington DC-based think tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies believes it is unlikely that U.S. intelligence didn’t know about al-Liby’s medical condition before grabbing him. “They would have had him under surveillance and gathered a lot of information about him,” Schanzer says.