Thursday, April 10, 2008

Bridge for sale: Sold! Libya releases 90 jihadists with al-Qaeda connections after they "denounced violence"

"Denounced." Not "renounced?" And for that matter, against whom: Libya? Against Islamic countries? Or at all?

"90 members of al-Qaeda-linked group freed from Libyan jail," from the Associated Press:

Libyan authorities released on Tuesday 90 members of an al-Qaeda-affiliate from a Tripoli prison after they denounced violence, a government-backed charity said.. The released were members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which purportedly has links to the al-Qaeda terror network. The group has long been accused in Libya of plotting to overthrow the country's autocratic leader Moammar Gadhafi. ''All the released have denounced violence,'' Saleh Abdul-Salam, director of the Libyan charity organization, which mediated the release, said Tuesday. ''The foundation will help them in finding work and integrating better into society.''

More from Agence France-Presse, which points out that this is a pet project of Qaddafi's son:

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya has freed 90 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an Islamist group that Al-Qaeda hailed as a new affiliate last November, the Kadhafi Foundation headed by the son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said on Tuesday.

"The dialogue opened with leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group .. has resulted in the release of 90 members, which represents one third of the membership of this group," said the foundation headed by Seif al-Islam Kadhafi.

The prisoners were paraded for photographers as they were released amid tight security from the Abu Salim prison in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Al-Qaeda had announced in an audiotape posted on an Islamist website last November that the Libyan group had joined the jihadist network.

"The esteemed leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have announced their allegiance to the Al-Qaeda network," Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri said in the recording.

The Libyan group was the second Islamist organization in North Africa whose allegiance was claimed by Al-Qaeda after Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat joined in January last year.

Gadhafi, Qaddafi, Kadhafi. Don't trust any of 'em

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