Al-Liby’s wife, Umm Abdul Rahman, didn’t deny that her husband had briefly been an al-Qaeda member, gravitating to Osama bin Laden after having fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He was badly wounded in the 1988 battle for Jalalabad, with injuries to his jaw and right leg, she said. Dressed in a black niqab and all-enveloping abaya, Rahman, who married al-Liby in Pakistan in 1991 in an arranged marriage, became agitated, pulling out her uncovered hands to emphasize her words. She said al-Liby became disillusioned while in Sudan and broke finally with al-Qaeda by 1996, although she said it might have been earlier.

“My husband was affiliated with al-Qaeda a long time ago. But he was never a senior leader in al-Qaeda,” she said. A key factor in the break came when “he got to know the men affiliated with the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group,” she said. “They had a common vision, a common cause, a common enemy, which was the Gaddafi regime and they wanted to overthrow this regime.” Al-Liby joined up…

She said: “My husband is very sick. We want to know is my husband alive, is he dead, how’s his health? If he is subjected to any maltreatment or torture he perhaps could die because of the different ailments he is suffering from.” She trailed off into silence and then expresses frustration at Obama for his claim that her husband is a mass murderer. “These are false accusations and it is very hurtful and worrisome when the President of the United States characterizes my husband as a killer and a killer of hundreds without providing any evidence, without providing any proof. Isn’t the accused innocent until proven guilty? I think it was irresponsible for Obama to claim that my husband is a killer and a killer of hundreds. It is unfair.”

She pointed out that they were in Britain when the bombings happened and that they were under tight surveillance, with their home being raided frequently and her husband’s computers seized. She is sure that if British intelligence had any evidence, they would have acted and the British authorities would have agreed to an extradition request made by the Americans during their stint in the U.K.