On Tuesday, Ali Harzi, 26, a Tunisian national suspected of taking part in the September 11th attack on the U.S. consulate office in Benghazi, Libya, was freed due to a reported "lack of evidence."
Fox News has reported:
Harzi was one of very few people in custody in relation to the attack. U.S. officials said in December that Egypt had also arrested a member of the Islamic Jihad group for possible links to the attack, but in general they lamented a lack of cooperation from local governments in their investigation and said most suspects remained free.
Harzi's lawyer, Anwar Oued-Ali, said the presiding judge had "conditionally freed" his client Monday night and he has to remain in the greater Tunis area in case the court needs him. The lawyer described the release as "correcting an irregular situation" because authorities never had any real evidence
Harzi was originally detained in Turkey and in October was extradited to Tunisia, where authorities had said he was "strongly suspected" of being involved in the attack. His lawyer said he was officially charged with "membership of a terrorist organization" -- a charge punishable by six to 12 years in prison.
Harzi's father, Tahar, claims that his son is innocent and was simply working a construction project in the area when the attack too place.
However, Tahar also admitted that he encouraged his son to take up "jihad in the cause of God."
Of course, the attack took the lives of four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador to Lybia, J. Christopher Stevens.
Over his career, Stevens served two diplomatic tours in Libya, and was confirmed as ambassador to that country by the Senate in May 2011.
It was widely reported that Stevens had been sexually abused before his death.
The last U.S. ambassador to be killed was Adolph Dubs, who was murdered during an attempted kidnapping in Afghanistan in 1979.
There have been a total of six U.S. ambassadors murdered while in office.
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