Libya to try Gaddafi son in August
Saif al-Islam to be tried with other Gaddafi-era officials despite ICC saying he is unlikely to get fair trial.
The trial of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s son, his spy chief, and his last prime minister will take place in August, a top Libyan official has announced.
Al-Seddik al-Sur of the state prosecutor’s office told reporters on Monday that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Abdullah al-Senoussi and ex-premier al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, along with ex-spokesman Milad Daman, will be tried for crimes committed during Gaddafi’s 42-year rule and during the eight-month civil war that deposed him.
Last week, Libya appealed the International Criminal Court’s order to try Saif al-Islam in The Hague.
Libya also asked for suspension of its order to hand him over to the ICC.
Saif al-Islam is being held by a militia in the Libyan town of Zintan.
ICC judges ruled that Libya will not be able to give Saif al-Islam a fair trial.
With no national army or police in place since the fall of Gadhafi’s regime, successive governments have been too weak to either secure Saif al-Islam’s imprisonment in the capital, Tripoli, or put pressure on his captors to hand him over to the government.
Gaddafi’s son is also being tried on separate charges of harming state security.