The Justice Department said Friday that an alleged participant in the 2012 Benghazi attack has been taken into U.S. custody to face prosecution, a move Attorney General Pam Bondi described as part of an ongoing effort to hold militants accountable for the killings of four Americans. Bondi announced the arrest at a news conference in Washington with FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, saying the pursuit of justice for the Benghazi crime against the United States had continued.
The Justice Department identified the suspect as Zubayar Al-Bakoush, whom officials said had been wanted by the United States for more than a decade. Prosecutors said a newly unsealed indictment accuses him of joining a mob that crashed the front gates of the diplomatic mission in Benghazi with assault rifles and explosives, unleashing hours of violence that also included deadly fires.
Officials said Al-Bakoush arrived early Friday at an airfield in Virginia, after what Patel described as a “transfer of custody.” Al-Bakoush was expected to face charges in Washington, including murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, the Justice Department said.
Al-Bakoush, 58, appeared Friday afternoon in federal court in Washington wearing a gray hoodie and using a wheelchair, according to the report. He did not enter a plea. A federal magistrate asked routine questions through an interpreter who appeared remotely, and Al-Bakoush was ordered detained until a hearing tentatively set for next week.
Through the interpreter, Al-Bakoush said, “I have complete trust in the court and the jury,” adding that he has “complete confidence” there will be justice in his case. Pirro said the “Benghazi saga” was painful for Americans and that “There are more of them out there,” saying time would not stop prosecutors from going after people she described as predators involved in the attack.
Prosecutors said the indictment alleges Al-Bakoush was part of the armed group that traveled to the mission and that he conducted surveillance and attempted to break into cars belonging to diplomatic mission staff. The Benghazi attack, U.S. officials have said, unfolded on Sept. 11, 2012, when more than 20 militants armed with AK-47s and grenade launchers breached the gate of the consulate compound and set buildings on fire. The fires killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith, and gunfire and a precision mortar barrage later killed security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty after other State Department personnel fled to the nearby U.S. annex.
The arrest comes after earlier U.S. prosecutions related to the attack, the Justice Department said. Another Libyan militant alleged to be a leader of the assault was captured by U.S. special forces more than a decade ago and later convicted and sentenced to prison, and a third accused participant is also imprisoned, the report said. The case is expected to be the latest U.S. prosecution to renew attention on Benghazi, which became a political flashpoint in Washington as Republicans challenged President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over security at the facility, the military response and the administration’s changing narrative about who was responsible.
Congressional investigations also played a role in the continuing debate. A final report by a Republican-led congressional panel faulted the Obama administration for security deficiencies at the Libyan outpost and a slow response to the attack, while finding no wrongdoing by Clinton. Clinton dismissed the panel’s report at the time as an echo of previous probes with no new discoveries, and other Democrats denounced it as “a conspiracy theory on steroids,” according to the report.
This story has been corrected to show the suspect arrived at an airfield in Virginia, not at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as Bondi announced.