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Al-Libbi still holding up under interrogation
Intelligence officers who have been questioning Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the senior al-Qaeda suspect arrested last week, have cast doubt over claims by Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, that the interrogation is "proceeding well".
Depends on who you ask, I guess:
"Hey, Abu! How's your interrogation goin'?"
"Ow! Ow! [Whimper!]... Not so well!" |
 Libbi, 28, who is said to be al-Qaeda's No. 3, had defied efforts to make him give details about its senior hierarchy, despite coming under physical pressure to do so, officials said on Saturday. More than a dozen low-key al-Qaeda targets were arrested in Pakistan last week thanks to information said to have been stored on Libbi's mobile phone. Yet early US and Pakistani hopes that he would tell them the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawihiri, were dashed. One senior intelligence official said: "So far he has not told us anything solid that could lead to the high-value targets. It is too early to judge whether he is a hard nut to crack, or simply that he doesn't know more than he has told us. They have tried all possible methods, from the 'third degree' to injecting him with giggle juice a truth serum, but it is hard to break him."
"More giggle juice, Abu?"
"Yershhh, shank you!... Shay! Have you sheen my thumbnails?" |
Pakistan has ruled out his immediate extradition to the US, and denies that US agents are present at his questioning.
"Agent Starchedshirt, perhaps you should spend the day in the hotel bar? You might not want to see this!"
"Ummm... Good idea. And thanks for the smelling salts! They helped a lot!" |
An Interior Ministry official, Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, said: "Our own agencies are investigating him. No one else is involved for the time being." However, a government minister said British intelligence officials might be allowed to join the interrogation. "This would be done once we exhaust him completely and are satisfied that he is not preparing to commit a terror act in our country."
"Neville, would you mind joining the Abu Faraj interrogation?"
"Certainly, Alistair. I'll bring my polo mallet!" |
Pakistan said at the weekend that it had caught seven conspirators in central Punjab province late last mongh who were planning an attack on President Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-05-10 |
