CIA agents tortured me and then sent me to Gaddafi prison hell, claims Libyan rebel commander negotiating with West



Abdel Hakim Belhaj claims he was even denied a shower for three years

Ex-Islamist leader 'arrested in Malaysia in 2004 over Al Qaeda claims'

Belhaj held in Libyan jail where Gaddafi massacred 1,200 prisoners



Despite allegations, he insists: 'Revenge doesn't motivate me'



Allegations: Abdelhakim Belhaj claims CIA agents tortured him after his arrest in Malaysia in 2004

A Libyan rebel military commander negotiating over the future of his country today claimed he was tortured by CIA agents who suspected him of being an Al Qaeda terrorist.

Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the former leader of an Islamic militant group that sent fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan, said he spent seven years in jail, where he was even denied a shower for three years.

He claims that he was arrested in at an airport in Malaysia in 2004 before U.S. agents took him to Thailand as part of the rendition process of transferring prisoners to countries that use torture.

The 45-year-old says he was tortured by American agents at a facility in the South East Asian state before he was returned to Libya, where he remained incarcerated until the end of 2010.

His allegations highlight the apparent closeness between the U.S. and Colonel Moammar Gaddafi’s regime, which collapsed last week following a six-month insurgency.

Mr Belhaj, who fought against the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s, declared that ‘if I ever have the chance I will take legal action’ against those responsible.

However, the former commander of now dissolved Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, who in 2009 publicly repudiated violent jihad, insists he does not hold a grudge against the West.

Mr Belhaj, who commands troops in Tripoli and has travelled abroad and met several foreign politicians since the uprising began, said: ‘Revenge doesn't motivate me personally.’

He said he hopes any future Libya will shun extremism.

Hell hole: One of the wards of the Abu Salim Prison where Belhaj spent almost seven years

Grim: U.S. filmmaker Matthew VanDyke sits inside his former cell in Abu Salim after it was liberated by rebel forces

‘Libya is a moderate Muslim country,’ he said. ‘We are a simple people with a simple cultural makeup and we have never had extremist ideas. And if there ever were any they were an exception.

‘The Libyan people have different views and those views will be respected.’

After his alleged stint in the hands of the CIA, Mr Belhaj was kept in the notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, where 1,200 inmates were massacred in 1999 after complaining about their conditions.

He told The Independent: ‘I was in prison for seven years during which I was subjected to torture as well as solitary confinement. I was even denied a shower for three years.’

He did not reveal any other details of his allegations.



Other Islamist inmates, who were often stripped naked and attacked by dogs as a routine punishment, have claims they were sometimes taken from Abu Salim to be questioned by U.S. officials in Tripoli.

Courtyard: The only part of Abu Salim where prisoners can get any sunlight

Art work: A sketch in one of the cells at the prison, the scene of a 1999 massacre

Released from prison in 2010, Mr Belhaj became one of the most effective rebel military commanders and is said by diplomats to have played a crucial role in the capture of Tripoli.

He is highly regarded by the chairman of the Transitional National Council (TNC), Mustafa Abdul Jalil.

Ironically, given his claims of previous mistreatment at US hands, Mr Belhaj has emerged as one of Nato's most important allies during their air campaign in support of the rebels over the last six months.

He lauded the West for supporting the rebels, saying that ‘the UN Security Council and the whole world stood by us in the cause and have helped us to get rid of Gaddafi.’

Although Mr Belhaj admits sending troops to Afghanistan, he claims it was not to help Al Qaeda bit rather to train insurgents in the fight against Gaddafi.

Dark: One of the halls inside Abu Salim, where mostly political prisoners were kept

‘We never had any link to Al Qaeda,’ said Mr Belhaj.

‘We never took part in global jihad. The fact that we were in the same country, Afghanistan, [as al-Qa'ida] does not mean we had the same goal.

‘We never have and never will support… terrorism.’

It was in Abu Salim prison that Mr Belhaj helped write a 419-page document, published in 2009, which repudiated the Jihadi doctrine of holy war and the use of violence to change regimes.

And it was there, in February, that the uprising began after lawyers protested against the appalling conditions.