BEIRUT, Lebanon — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s intelligence chief was extradited to Libya by Mauritania on Wednesday, handing a victory to the new Tripoli government in an international tug of war over the chance to put him on trial for murder and war crimes.
Mauritania arrested the intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, who ran Libya’s extensive spy network and was Colonel Qaddafi’s brother-in-law, in March as he sought to evade attempts by the Libyans, the French and the International Criminal Court to bring him to trial for suspected human rights abuses and acts of international terrorism during his decades as the Libyan leader’s enforcer and confidant. He had been a fugitive for seven months, since rebels captured Tripoli.
Mr. Senussi and Colonel Qaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi are perhaps the two most reviled survivors of the Qaddafi government; both are now in the hands of the new Libyan authorities. Their trials will be pivotal tests of the new government’s avowed commitment to the rule of law. Libya still lacks an effective police force, public security or fully functional courts; resisting mob justice may be a challenge.
“The Libyan government has received Qaddafi’s right-hand man,” Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib told reporters. “I want to take the opportunity to say that Libya will guarantee a fair trial for Senussi that will respect international legal standards,” he added, urging other countries to turn over any fugitive Qaddafi officials.
Mr. Senussi’s extradition followed months of diplomatic pleading and pressure from the new Libyan authorities, and it was unclear what assurances or inducements they may have given Mauritania, a nation with far fewer resources.
The International Criminal Court is seeking to try the two men at The Hague on charges that as top lieutenants to Colonel Qaddafi they directed the killing of political opponents challenging his rule.
The French, whose intelligence service reportedly assisted in Mr. Senussi’s capture, tried him in absentia for his involvement in the 1989 bombing of a passenger jet that killed 170 people, including 54 French citizens. British and American officials believe that he played a role in the 1988 bombing of a United States passenger jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed more than 250 people.
The Libyans have not specified the charges they will bring. Many believe Mr. Senussi was responsible for the torture or assassination of suspected spies or political opponents during Colonel Qaddafi’s decades in power, and they imagine he can unlock financial and security secrets known only to the colonel’s inner circle.
“Senussi threatened to kill and slaughter us,” said Sami al-Saadi, a former political prisoner who was tortured and sentenced to death in Mr. Senussi’s custody. Part of an Islamist guerrilla movement against Colonel Qaddafi in the 1990s, Mr. Saadi said two of his brothers were killed in a notorious 1996 prison massacre that many Libyans say Mr. Senussi ordered.
Mr. Saadi said that he hoped to see Mr. Senussi on Thursday so he could tell him: “How ironic that tables have turned. The same people who are guarding you now in prison are the same people you sentenced to death in your prison.”
Libyan state television showed Mr. Senussi, with a new beard, exiting a helicopter in Tripoli.
In a telephone interview broadcast on Libyan television, Abdul-Majid Saad, a representative of the Justice Ministry who traveled with Mr. Senussi, said that he had been in good health and comfortable circumstances in Mauritania, where he had been able to live with family. He also said the extradition caught Mr. Senussi by surprise.
“He was under the impression that he was going to meet with one of the Mauritanian security officials,” Mr. Saad said. “But when he saw the Libyan Arab airlines plane, he tried to resist.”
Mr. Saad added that when Mr. Senussi saw a crowd at the Tripoli airport, he fought to stay on the plane.
During the flight, Mr. Saad said, Mr. Senussi had tried to diminish the legitimacy of the new Libyan authorities, saying, “If it wasn’t for NATO, the battle wouldn’t have been over.”
David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Beirut, and Suliman Ali Zway from Tripoli, Libya.