File photo of Senussi, head of the Libyan Intelligence Service, speaking to the media in Tripoli
File photo of Senussi, head of the Libyan Intelligence Service.The ICC has charged Senussi and Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, captured in the southern Libyan desert in November, as being "indirect co-perpetrators" of murder and persecution of Libyans who rose up against the veteran dictator. Reuters

The West African nation of Mauritania has extradited Abdullah al-Senussi, the notorious former intelligence chief in Moammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya, almost a year after his leader’s death.

Abdullah al-Senussi will likely be tried for allegedly committing a series of crimes against humanity by a Libyan court. Senussi is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and by the government of France on similar charges.

"He was extradited to Libya on the basis of guarantees given by Libyan authorities," a Mauritanian government source told Reuters.

Senussi fled Libya soon after the uprising that removed Gaddafi from power last year.

Among other crimes, Senussi is thought to have been one of the masterminds behind the bombing of the Pan Am airliner that blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 – an atrocity that killed almost 300 people both on the aircraft and on the ground.

Senussi is also linked to the massacre at Libya’s Abu Salim prison in 1996 (which may have caused the deaths of as many as 1300 inmates).

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