Libya’s rebel military commander General Abdel Fatah Younes was arrested by members of his own NTC faction and was assassinated shortly thereafter in late July. The death led to the dismissal of the entire NTC cabinet at the time, but there was no real accountability for his death.
But now, the NTC insists that the assassination plot has centered on a single man, former Deputy Prime Minister Ali El-Essawi, who they termed the “number one suspect” in the killing.
Military prosecutor Yussef al-Aseifr said that there were seven people involved in the plot and that three had already been arrested. It does not appear that Essawi was one of those, however, as he was able to publicly deny his involvement.
“I never signed any decision related to Abdel Fatah Younes,” Essawi insisted, saying the claims that he was responsible for summoning Younes back to Benghazi and his eventual assassination were “untrue.”