(supersedes previous)A
Palermo judge on Wednesday denied a request from prosecutors to
keep in custody a female Libyan researcher at a Sicilian
university suspected of instigation to commit acts of terrorism.
Police earlier in the day had detained Benghazi native
Khadiga Shabbi, 45, on evidence gleaned after months of
surveillance that she is in contact with at least two foreign
fighters - one in Belgium, the other in Britain - and has
produced propaganda for al-Qaeda on the Internet.
She also allegedly sent money to Turkey and tried to bring
her cousin to Italy, but he died in a gun fight.
Investigators say she is related to members of a terrorist
group that carried out a September 11, 2012, attack on the
American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, in which Islamist
militants killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S.
Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.
Police say her Facebook profile features propaganda from
Islamist extremist groups such as Ansar al-Sharia Libya, plus
war imagery, flyers, and sermons calling for jihad.
A preliminary investigations judge ruled that there was no
risk of Shabbi fleeing Palermo - where she has lived for the
past three years on a 2,000-euro monthly stipend from the Libyan
embassy - and only barred her from leaving the city and from
leaving her home at night.
Prosecutors say they will appeal the judge's decision.
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