Tripoli, June 19 (RHC)-- Libya has condemned a U.S. raid that nabbed a suspect accused of plotting the 2012 attack in Benghazi. Ahmed Abu Khattala was captured by U.S. Special Forces over the weekend and immediately whisked away to a U.S. ship.
The Barack Obama administration says it plans to try him in civilian court in the United States.
On Wednesday, Justice Minister Saleh al-Marghani called the U.S. raid a violation of Libyan sovereignty, and said Khattalah should be brought back for trial inside Libya.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, defended the raid by invoking the U.S. right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Power called Khatallah a "key figure" in the Benghazi attack and said he was planning new violence against Americans.
Khatallah is reportedly being held on a U.S. ship and undergoing an FBI-led interrogation. It is unclear if he’s been read a Miranda warning of his right to remain silent and obtain legal counsel.