Ali Harzi, the only person who had been known to be in custody in connection with last September's attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, has been released by authorities in his native Tunisia, .
Attorney Anwar Oued-Ali said his client is free because of a lack of evidence that he was involved in . But, the lawyer added, Harzi has been ordered to remain in Tunisia. "He has returned to his family," another of the 26-year-old Harzi's lawyers .
Harzi is one of two men who were when they reportedly tried to enter that country with fake passports. After about a week in Turkey, , Harzi was sent to Tunisia. Last month, , he was questioned by FBI agents. The whereabouts of the other person detained in Turkey are not known, but there are no reports to indicate he too was suspected of involvement in the Benghazi attack.
The Daily Beast has previously reported that it was told by a "U.S. intelligence officer" that Harzi has been a member of extremist groups in North Africa and has connections to "jihadist organizations in the Middle East."
At first blamed on anger over an anti-Islam video produced in California, the attack on the U.S. mission has since been called a deliberate act by terrorists with ties to al-Qaida. for not doing more to safeguard the mission and for some of its statements in the days immediately after the attack.
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