[Maghrebia] The leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and two of his top deputies are among 214 jailed militants freed by Libya on Tuesday (March 23rd), international press reported. With the release of LIFG emir Abdelhakim Belhaj (aka Abu Abdallah Al Sadek), the group's military chief Khaled Shrif and top strategist Sami Saadi, Libya has "concluded its programme of dialogue and reconciliation", AFP quoted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Saif al-Islam as saying."Al-Qaeda are not going to be happy about this," said a former LIFG commander who has been working as an intermediary between the prisoners and the Libyan government. "The leaders still have big credibility in the jihadist movement, and they can now play a big role in the future in countering al-Qaeda's ideology," told CNN.
In a 417-page document released last September, "Corrective Studies" on the Doctrine of Jihad, Hesba and Ruling", the Libyan group repudiated al-Qaeda and denounced the killing of civilians under the pretext of jihad. The document's authors include the brother of al-Qaeda terrorist and former LIFG leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was killed in Pakistan in 2008.