Libya to contest ICC bid to try Gaddafi son
Officials “preparing appeal” to reverse Hague-based court’s decision to prosecute Saif al-Islam for war crimes.
Libya has said that it will appeal to the International Criminal Court to reverse its decision to prosecute Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of the country’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Salah al-Marghani, Libyan justice minister, said at a joint news conference with Ali Zeidan, the prime minister, on Sunday that they will appeal within five days of The Hague-based ICC’s announcement of the decision on Friday.
“A team of Libyan and international experts are discussing the preparation of the appeal,” he said.
On Friday, the ICC rejected a bid by the North African country to halt its prosecution of Saif al-Islam for crimes against humanity committed while trying to put down Libya’s 2011 armed uprising.
“The chamber concluded that it has not been sufficiently demonstrated that [Libya’s] domestic investigation [covers] the same case that is before the court,” the ICC said in a summary of the decision.
Saif al-Islam, 40, is being held by a brigade of former rebel fighters in Zintan, 180km southwest of Tripoli, since his capture in November 2011, five months after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest.
The court, which was mandated by the UN Security Council to investigate the Libyan conflict, has clashed with the Libyan government over where he should be tried.
Libya has been plagued by a security breakdown since the revolt, with abductions and other crimes taking place frequently, and the new government is still unable to control the former rebels.