Judge sets deadline for Libyan commander to answer questions

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A U.S. judge has set a two-week deadline for a Libyan military commander to answer questions in a lawsuit accusing him of war crimes. Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army, is a defendant in multiple federal lawsuits in Virginia accusing him of killings and torture in that country’s civil war. Once a lieutenant to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Hifter defected to the U.S. during the 1980s and spent many years living in northern Virginia. He still holds U.S. citizenship and owns extensive property in Virginia. On Thursday a judge rejected Hifter’s argument that submitting to a deposition would force him to violate Libyan law. She set an Oct. 28 deadline for the deposition to occur.