The trial of Libya's former spy chief Bouzid Dorda was adjourned indefinitely on Tuesday as defense lawyers challenged the legality of proceedings in the first case against a top Kadhafi official.

It was the fifth time since June 5 that the trial had been suspended at the request of defense lawyers.

Tripoli's criminal court on Monday adjourned the trial of two former senior Libyan officials accused of abusing funds set aside to compensate families of Lockerbie bombing victims, an AFP reporter said.

The trial of slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi's foreign minister Abdellati al-Obeidi and his head of parliament Belgassem al-Zwai will now take place on October 15.

Eight candidates are to contest a September 12 election among members of the General National Congress to become Libya's new prime minister, an official source said on Thursday.

Among them are Mahmoud Jibril, who led a transitional council during last year's revolution which toppled Moammar Gadhafi and now heads the liberal National Forces Alliance, and Electricity Minister Awadh al-Barassi, an Islamist.

The United States waterboarded Libyan Islamists opposed to Moammar Gadhafi and handed them over to his regime for further torture during the Bush administration, a rights group said Thursday.

A new report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch said a former detainee claimed to have been waterboarded and another described a form of water torture, indicating wider use of the method than is officially claimed.

A Lebanese delegation interrogated Moammar Gadhafi’s spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi in Mauritania on Wednesday ahead of his extradition to Libya, a well-informed source said.

Senussi, Gadhafi's brother-in-law and feared former right-hand man, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and Lebanese authorities believe he might have information about the 1978 disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr and his two companions while on a visit to Libya.

Two senior Libyan officials from the ousted regime of Moammar Gadhafi will go on trial next week for financial crimes, the deputy prosecutor told AFP on Wednesday.

"Former foreign minister Abdellati al-Obeidi and ex-parliament speaker Belgassem al-Zwai will stand trial on September 10 for financial crimes that preceded the February 17 (2011) revolution," Taha Baara said.

Mauritanian authorities have handed over Moammar Gadhafi's ex-spy chief to Libya nearly five months after he was arrested for entering the country illegally, state television reported Wednesday.

"Mauritanian authorities hand over ex-Libyan spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi to Libya," read a newsflash on the screen written in Arabic.

A car bomb Sunday in the eastern Libya city of Benghazi killed a former security official who served under slain strongman Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, a top official said.

"A colonel of the former internal security apparatus was killed and his escort was seriously wounded" by the explosion of his own car, Deputy Interior Minister Younis al-Sharif told Agence France Presse.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour is in Mauritania for talks with top officials on the possibility of meeting with slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s ex-spy chief in his efforts to reveal the fate of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, An Nahar daily reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said that Mansour and his accompanying delegation that includes a member of the committee following up Sadr’s disappearance will hold talks with Mauritanian officials on Sunday and Monday for a possible meeting with Abdullah al-Senussi.

Lebanon is set to chair the Arab League Ministerial Council next month amid unannounced divisions among top Lebanese officials on whether to back down from the mission, As Safir daily reported on Tuesday.

Presidential sources told the newspaper that pragmatic consultations are underway on whether Lebanon should preside the Council for a six-month period starting September 5.