Gaddafi’s son can get fair trial in Libya, ICC told

Published on 10/10/2012 00:00

Libya can guarantee the son of its former dictator a fair trial, Libyan government lawyers have said at a hearing on whether Saif al-Islam Gaddafi should face justice at home or at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.

ICC judges are to rule on whether Libya can try the man once seen as Gaddafi’s heir-apparent or whether it should extradite him to the Hague.

No matter how the judges rule, the court has no power to force Libya to comply. But Libya would then be in violation of international law and the will of the United Nations Security Council. Counsel for Libya, Philippe Sands, yesterday told the first day of the two-day hearing at the ICC that Gaddafi’s son had not been mistreated.

But Melinda Taylor, the ICC-appointed defence lawyer who was detained in Libya in June along with three colleagues for almost month, said the Libyan claims “bore no relationship to the facts on the ground”.

Libya had said it would put Saif al-Islam on trial in September but later said this would be delayed by five months to include information obtained from the interrogation of former spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi. If tried in Libya, al-Islam, 40, who is accused of committing crimes against humanity, could face the death penalty.