Senussi Denies Involvement in Killing of ‘February 17’ Protesters in Libya 

Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)
Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)
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Senussi Denies Involvement in Killing of ‘February 17’ Protesters in Libya 

Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)
Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)

Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi, denied on Monday charges that he was involved in the killing and quelling of protests during the February 17, 2011 revolution that toppled Gaddafi.

Senussi appeared before an appellate court in the capital Tripoli where “he faced over 25 charges, including the killing of protesters,” said his lawyer Ahmad Nashad.

Nashad told Asharq Al-Awsat that Senussi denied all the charges during the hearing that lasted four and a half hours.

The court listened to Senussi’s defense and later, he recalled the conditions of his arrest and current health situation, he added.

Senussi, 73, was seen as one of the most powerful figures in the Gaddafi regime. He was married to Gaddafi's sister-in-law and part of his inner circle.

Senussi’s court appearance had been delayed 13 times because of the opposition of the Special Deterrence Force militia. He has been held in Mitiga prison in Tripoli.

His supporters believe he is being held “hostage”, claiming his jailors worry that he will gain popular support as soon as he is released from prison.

Nashad said the hearing was adjourned to February 5 when it will listen to the defense of the remaining accused.

Senussi was sentenced to death in 2015 after he was accused of quelling the February 17 protests. In 2019, he was acquitted by a Tripoli court, but the supreme court overruled the decision and the case is being handled by another court.

Senussi’s Magarha tribe said it was optimistic after Monday’s court appearance.

Sheikh Haroun Arhouma, a tribal leader, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Senussi has heart problems and is suffering from liver cancer.

“We will hold Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah's government responsible for any harm that may befall him,” he warned.

Dbeibah is head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU).

“We will await the outcome of next week’s court session. We will welcome any good news, but we will take action if the outcome does not please us,” said Sheikh Haroun without elaborating.

“We control the oil and gas wells, as well as the water pipelines in the South. We will make our response heard. The western regions don’t boast oil or war,” he remarked.



Gaza Civil Defense Says Six Killed in Israeli Strikes

A Palestinian man carries items he salvaged from a house targeted in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 24, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian man carries items he salvaged from a house targeted in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Six Killed in Israeli Strikes

A Palestinian man carries items he salvaged from a house targeted in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 24, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian man carries items he salvaged from a house targeted in an Israeli strike at the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 24, 2025. (AFP)

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed at least six people on Saturday across the Palestinian territory, where Israel has ramped up its military offensive in recent days.

"Our teams have recovered at least six dead," civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

He said a couple were killed with their two young children in a pre-dawn strike on a house in the Amal quarter of the southern city of Khan Younis.

Another two people were killed in a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the territory, he said.

The Israeli military said it was unable to comment on individual strikes without their "precise geographical coordinates".

Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.

Gaza's health ministry said Friday that at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war's overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Gunmen also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Friday that Palestinians were enduring "the cruelest phase" of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.

The World Food Program called on Israel "to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster", saying: "Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity."

Aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip restarted on Monday for the first time since March 2, amid mounting condemnation of the Israeli blockade, which has resulted in severe shortages of food and medicines.