Nouakchott  Libya urged Mauritania's president on Tuesday to hand over Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence chief Abdallah Al Sanussi to face justice at home, winning in return what it called a promise of a "good" outcome in the case.

Al Sanussi, who was Gaddafi's right-hand man before the Libyan dictator's overthrow and death in a popular revolt last year, was arrested at Mauritania's Nouakchott airport after he arrived late on Friday on a flight from Morocco.

A senior Libyan delegation to Mauritania feted President Mohammad Ould Abdul Aziz for his "brave stance" in arresting Al Sanussi and reaffirmed in talks at his presidency Tripoli's wish for Al Sanussi to be extradited to Libya.

"We greatly appreciate the position of the president who promised us that good will come of this matter," said a statement attributed to Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour and issued by Mauritania's official news agency AMI.

Despite its upbeat tone, the statement in Arabic did not say any explicit commitment had been made to hand over Al Sanussi. Mauritanian officials were not immediately available to comment.

France and the International Criminal Court also want to take Al Sanussi into custody. The ICC has indicted him on crimes against humanity, while he is also alleged to have a role in the 1989 bombing of an airliner in which 54 French nationals died.

US contacts with Mauritania

Separately, diplomatic sources said the United States - which on Monday confirmed it had contacts with Mauritania over Al Sanussi - had requested access to him before any transfer.

"The Americans put in a request to Mauritanian authorities yesterday (Monday) morning to be able to meet Al Sanussi while he is still in Mauritania, said one diplomatic source. A second diplomat also confirmed the request had been made.

No comment was immediately available either from the Mauritanian or US governments.
Al Sanussi's name has been linked to the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland of a Pan Am jet that killed 270 people. A State Department spokeswoman said on Monday the United States had long expressed an interest in hearing him on that.

Fair trial

Human rights groups doubt Al Sanussi , 62, will have a fair trial in Libya, citing shortfalls in its judiciary system, and have called for his transfer to the Hague-based ICC.

However Deputy Justice Minister Khalifa Faraj Ashour told Reuters in Tripoli the former intelligence chief would be tried fairly in his home country.

"Security is good, the courts are working fine in almost all of the country," he said. "Even if there is a security breach once in a while, we can deal with it."

Ashour said it was too early to talk about what charges Al Sanussi could face in Libya but Interpol has issued a Red Notice for him at Libya's request for fraud offences including embezzling public funds and misuse of power for personal benefit.

"In general, we can say one of the crimes is financial corruption. He knows a lot about hidden money," Ashour said.
 
Al Sanussi is also suspected of a key role in the killing of more than 1,200 inmates at Tripoli's Abu Salim prison in 1996. It was the arrest of a lawyer for victims' relatives that sparked Libya's Arab Spring revolt in February last year.

"Al Sanussi  being handed over to Libya and tried here would be a great support for the Libyan revolution and the country's courts," Ashour said. "You have to realise that he committed many other crimes in Libya before the revolution."

According to Mauritanian security sources, Al Sanussi, who for decades was hated and feared by many ordinary Libyans, is being held in the main police training school in Nouakchott.

The sources said the location - which is surrounded by a high wall blocking all view from outside - was the only one which could keep Senussi in sufficient security while affording him a degree of comfort.

According to two sources, a team of military doctors including Aziz's personal medic performed a medical check on Al Sanussi on Sunday while he was still being held at a residence in the grounds of Nouakchott's international conference centre.