Former NTC Deputy PM Named as Prime Suspect in Killing of General Younis

Ali Abdelaziz Saad Essawi, suspectd of involvement of killing of General Abdel Fatah Younis

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) named Ali Abdelaziz Saad Al-Essawi, a former NTC deputy prime minister as the chief suspect in the killing of General Abdel Fatah Younis, one of the rebel movement’s most senior military commanders five months into the conflict that ended with the ousting from power of former dictator Muammar Al Qathafi.

General Younis was killed in an incident that caused deep rifts inside the rebellion. His death raised suspicions that he had been killed by his own side.

At a news conference broadcast on Libyan television, that was attended by the head of the National Transitional Council in Libya, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil and the deputy general prosecutor, NTC chief military prosecutor Yussef Al-Aseifr mentioned Ali Abdelaziz Saad Al-Essawi, as chief suspect. Al Essawi was dismissed from the board of 'ministers' along with others on August 8.

Libya's General Prosecutor Walid Swany also said in the news conference in Benghazi on Monday, that the investigations concluded there were six others involved in the killing also to be charged of the killing of Younis and two of his companions, Colonel Mohamed Khamis and Lieutenant Colonel Naser Mazkour.

He also named them as, Yahia Abdel Salam, Mohamed Bin Issa, Ahmed Mansour al Johani, Salim Mohamed El Ebaidy, and Ali Abdel Kader Zoubi, in addition to someone called Ibrahim, who has not yet been identified, were the main suspects in Younis’s murder.

The number one suspect in the investigation is the former deputy head of (the NTC) executive office Ali Abdelaziz Saad Al-Essawi," Aseifr said.

“There are seven people suspected of involvement in Abdel Fatah Younis’s killing. Three have been arrested and security forces are looking for the others,” Aseifr said.

Al Essawi was also Secretary of the General People's Committee of Libya (GPCO) for Economy, Trade and Investment in the Al Qathafi regime, and was the youngest minister to fill such a post. He was appointed to this post on January 2007.

Meanwhile, in a phone call to the local Libya Awalen TV station, Al Essawi denied his involvement. “I never signed any decision relating to Abdel Fatah Younis,” he said. “Everybody in Libya wants the truth.”

Before he was made deputy prime minister, Essawi had acted as the NTC’s de facto foreign minister and toured foreign capitals rallying support for the rebellion against the Al Qathafi regime.

For years, Younis had been part of Al Qathafi's inner circle. He defected to the side of the rebels at the start of the uprising in February and became the rebellion's military chief.

The circumstances of his killing remain murky, but it is known that he was killed after NTC leaders summoned him back from the front line to the then NTC headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Meanwhile, at a conference in Tripoli organised by Libya’s ministry of Islamic Affairs, Libyan religious leaders urged Libyan authorities to disarm former rebels and to form a national army, backing the transitional government’s struggle to exert control over the militias that overthrew Al Qathafi

The clerics’ statement reflected concern over the militias’ refusal to submit to the central authority. Dozens of militias have held on to arsenals of heavy weapons and sometimes clash among themselves.

In a statement, the 250 imams and other clerics gathered at the conference, the first of its kind after the fall of the Al Qathafi regime said: “We advise speeding up the process of establishing a national army and the collection of arms.” said.

They clerics expressed fears that tribal and regional tensions could lead to a deterioration of security. “We need to focus especially on reconciliation and ... on building the new state of Libya,” Salim Jabar, an imam from Benghazi said.

Participants complained about young men carrying weapons in the streets and firing in the air for fun, sometimes killing or injuring people.

The NTC says it is working on forming a national army, integrating some of the militias and disarming the rest. Officials acknowledge that process could take months, and they said they could not force the militias to go along.

The clerics also demanded that the country’s planned constitution be based on Shariah (Islamic law), and that anything that violates Islam - including the consumption of alcohol - be declared illegal. They said they were concerned with what they said were “rumours” circulating in Libya’s newly freed press.

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