As Commander of the Royal Army he was arrested in the first days after Qaddafi seizing power and imprisoned for four and a half years.
However, upon Sir Shennib's arrival in Amman, he immediately informed King Hussein of Jordan of the plot against his life, defected from the Libyan regime, announcing his refusal to carry out the assassination.
Sir Abdul Aziz Shennib and his immediate family were thereafter placed under the protection of the Jordanian monarchy as recompense for his loyalty and friendship.
Under the protection of King Hussein, Sir Abdul Aziz joined the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, an expatriate Libyan opposition to Gaddafi.
[2] Later, at a press conference in Cairo, Sir Abdul Aziz Shennib revealed that Gaddafi had ordered the murder of Lebanese cleric Musa al-Sadr, whose disappearance in August 1978 had, until his revelation, been the subject of speculation.