26 APRIL

BLAIR WRITES LETTER OF THANKS TO LIBYAN TYRANT COLONEL GADAFFI

[ 26 April 2007 ]

On 26 April 2007, Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote a personal letter to Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi to express his disappointment that a British court had decided against deporting two men linked to the insurgent Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) back to Libya because of the regime’s appalling record of disappearing, torturing and murdering political opponents. Blair’s letter began ‘Dear Muammar’ and continued ‘I trust that you, and all your family, are well.’ He explained that it was ‘with regret, I should let you know that the British government has not been successful in its recent court case here involving deportation to Libya. I am very disappointed by the court’s decision.’ Blair emphasized that he would ‘like to add a personal word of thanks for your assistance in the matter of deportation. That support and the excellent cooperation of your officials with their British colleagues is a tribute to the strength of the bilateral relationship which has grown up between the United Kingdom and Libya…’ and he signed off with ‘Best wishes, yours ever Tony.’ The correspondence only became public knowledge following the Libyan uprising of 2011, when it was discovered abandoned among thousands of other classified regime documents.

FOOTNOTE

1. Helen Barratt, ‘Secret Letter Reveals Tony Blair “Colluded” with ousted leader Muammer Gaddafi,’ The Daily Express, 24 January 2015, accessed online at url https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/553990/Secret-letter-Tony-Blair-Libyan-leader-Muammer-Gaddafi

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