MURDER OF QADHAFI OPPONENT IN LONDON

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 015945 DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ENA AND S/CT E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/05 TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV KISL LY UK SUBJECT: MURDER OF QADHAFI OPPONENT IN LONDON ¶1. (U) CLASSIFIED BY: MICHAEL J. HABIB, MINISTER-COUNSELOR FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS. REASON: 1.5(D). ¶2. (U) ACCORDING TO PRESS REPORTS, AN EXILED OPPONENT OF QADHAFI'S REGIME WAS FOUND STABBED TO DEATH IN HIS WEST LONDON GROCER'S SHOP ON SUNDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER ¶26. FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF ALI MEHMED ABU ZEID HAVE BEEN QUICK TO SUGGEST THAT HE MAY HAVE BEEN ASSASSINATED BY LIBYAN SECURITY AGENTS. ¶3. (U) ACCORDING TO PRESS REPORTS, ABU ZEID WAS FORCED TO LEAVE LIBYA ABOUT TWENTY YEARS AGO AFTER SERVING EIGHT MONTHS IN PRISON FOR ACTIVITIES HOSTILE TO THE LIBYAN GOVERNMENT. A SPOKESMAN FOR SCOTLAND YARD SAID INVESTIGATORS WERE "KEEPING AN OPEN MIND" ABOUT THE OTIVE WHILE NOTING THAT THE CRIME DID NOT APPEAR TO INVOLVE BURGLARY. HOWEVER, A POLICE SOURCE TOLD THE PRESS THAT A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED KILLING WOULD MORE LIKELY HAVE INVOLVED A SHOOTING OR BOMBING, AND NOT, AS IN THIS CASE, A GRUESOME MULTIPLE STABBING. (ACCORDING TO TABLOID ACCOUNTS, ABU ZEID WAS STABBED IN THE BACK AT HIS STORE'S ENTRANCE AND THEN DISEMBOWELED OVER THE HALAL MEAT COUNTER AT THE REAR OF THE SHOP.) ¶4. (C) A CONTACT ASSOCIATED WITH THE LIBYAN OPPOSITION TOLD POLOFF ON NOVEMBER 28 THAT ABU ZEID WAS AN EXTREMELY WELL-LIKED FIGURE IN THE LOCAL LIBYAN COMMUNITY. HE CLAIMED THAT ABU ZEID WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE EMOTIONAL INTERNECINE DISPUTES THAT CHARACTERIZE THE LIBYAN OPPOSITION MOVEMENT AND THAT HE MAINTAINED GOOD RELATIONS WITH EVERYONE. ABU ZEID HAD NOT BEEN POLITICALLY ACTIVE SINCE THE LATE EIGHTIES AND HE HAD "NO ENEMIES EXCEPT THE QADHAFI REGIME". ¶5. (C) OUR SOURCE CLAIMED THAT ABU ZEID HAD RECENTLY RECEIVED THREATENING PHONE CALLS AND HAD MOVED HIS FAMILY WITHIN THE LAST TEN DAYS. HE HAD TOLD FRIENDS THAT IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO HIM, LIBYAN SECURITY OFFICIALS WERE TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE. LIBYAN OPPOSITIONISTS WERE CONVINCED ABU ZEID HAD BEEN TARGETED PRECISELY BECAUSE HE WAS WELL-KNOWN AND WIDELY LIKED AND THUS HIS MURDER, PARTICULARLY WHEN CARRIED OUT IN SUCH A BRUTAL FASHION, WOULD HAVE A DEEPLY CHILLING EFFECT ON LIBYAN EXPATRIATES EVERYWHERE. ¶6. (C) SCOTLAND YARD WILL UNDOUBTEDLY FOLLOW ANY LEAD SUGGESTING A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED CRIME. POST WILL REPORT ANY INDICATION OF OFFICIAL LIBYAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE MURDER OF ABU ZEID. CROWE