Gadhafi's son captured after 15 day chase.

[JimH52]

Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam captured in Libya - CNN.com

Wow, it will be interesting to see what happens here.

 

[California Girl]

I await the claim from the left that this is Obama's victory.

 

[JimH52]

I await the claim from the left that this is Obama's victory.

Not hardly CG. The best move of that whole situation was when we stepped back and let NATO take the lead. There will be no "Mission Accomplished" banners here.

 

[Truthmatters]

Dont Worry he wont stand on some aircraft carrier in a flight suit with a big ole banner saying "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" only to hang arround and get Americans killed for years to come.

 

[waltky]

One way to guarantee a conviction...

Report: ICC agrees to try Gadhafi son in Libya
April 17,`12 (UPI) -- The International Criminal Court may modify its plan to try the son of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi at The Hague, sources told the BBC.

A western diplomat told the network the ICC was finalizing a deal that would allow Saif al-Islam Gadhafi to be tried in Libya under ICC supervision for crimes against humanity.

The BBC said the court still held concerns Gadhafi could be executed if convicted in Libya but apparently is willing to accept a death sentence as long as the trial is carried out fairly and transparently.

Gadhafi, 39, was indicted by the ICC in November; however, the new Libyan government refused to extradite him to The Hague for trial. Although human rights activists expressed doubt Gadhafi would get a fair trial in Libya, the Libyan government said it was capable of the task.

The BBC said even if Gadhafi is tried in Libya it would take several months for the trial to begin.

Read more: Report: ICC agrees to try Gadhafi son in Libya - UPI.com

 

[waltky]

From heir-apparent to frightened captive...

Libya not ready to try Saif al-Islam Gaddafi - ICC
31 May 2013 - The International Criminal Court's pre-trial chamber has rejected Libya's request to try the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam.

Mr Gaddafi has been indicted by the ICC on war crimes charges relating to the 2011 uprising which toppled his father. He remains in the custody of a local militia that captured him in late 2011, and is not in official state custody. This and other challenges meant Libya was not ready to host the trial, the pre-trial chamber's judges said. In a statement, the judges at The Hague recognised "Libya's significant efforts to rebuild institutions and to restore the rule of law".

However, Libya continued to "face substantial difficulties in exercising fully its judicial powers across the entire territory", they added. Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani reiterated Libya's belief that it has the right to prosecute its own citizens, speaking in a telephone conversation with the BBC. He said it was too early to comment on the ruling, describing it as a "complex dispute" that requires reviewing. Members of Libya's judiciary say it is important for Saif al-Islam to be tried for alleged war crimes on home soil to revive faith in the Libyan judiciary, the BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was seen as the most likely successor to his father

Mr Gaddafi, who was seen as the most likely successor to his father, was captured by militias in the desert town of Ubari in November 2011 - allegedly trying to flee the country. He is being held in the town of Zintan, where he is facing separate charges, accused of complicity in exchanging information, obtaining documents that threaten national security and insulting the national flag.

The charges are linked to a visit to Mr Gaddafi in June 2012 by ICC lawyer Melinda Taylor and three other ICC staff. Ms Taylor was accused of clandestinely passing Mr Gaddafi a coded letter from a fugitive former aide. The ICC staff were held for three weeks and then released to The Hague; they are not expected to return to Libya to face charges. The ICC issued a warrant for Mr Gaddafi's arrest in June 2011 for two counts of crimes against humanity.

BBC News - Libya not ready to try Saif al-Islam Gaddafi - ICC

See also:

International court: Libya, give up Gadhafi son
May 31,`13 -- International Criminal Court judges on Friday rejected Libya's request to annul the international arrest warrant for the son of the late Moammar Gadhafi and let the country's new government try him in Tripoli.

In essence, the ICC found the Libyan government is not capable of holding a fair trial for Seif al-Islam Gadhafi by itself, and judges said the country's new leaders are obliged under international law to hand him over to the court in The Hague, Netherlands. Whether the government in Tripoli will be willing - or able - to transfer Gadhafi to The Hague are both open questions. Gadhafi was captured by a militia group as he was trying to flee to neighboring Niger in the aftermath of Libya's 2011 civil war. With no national army or police in place since the fall of Gadhafi's regime, successive governments have been too weak to secure Seif al-Islam's transfer to Tripoli.

Seif is jailed in the town of Zintan, and the Abu Bakr al-Sadek militia group has itself begun trial proceedings against Seif for charges including insulting the new country's flag and "harming state security." The Hague court wants him for alleged crimes against humanity in the murder and persecution of protesters in the uprising that ultimately toppled his father's regime in 2011. The Libyan government wants him for somewhat similar charges, though judges also said Friday the charges aren't similar enough to warrant canceling the international case.

Gadhafi says he is innocent of wrongdoing. "The Libyan state continues to face substantial difficulties in exercising fully its judicial powers across the entire territory," presiding judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi said in a written summary of Friday's decision. He added that "Libyan authorities have not been able to secure the transfer of (Gadhafi) into state custody and impediments remain to obtain the necessary evidence, and secure legal representation."

Salah al-Marghani, Libya's justice minister, commenting on the ICC decision, said the disagreement about where to try Seif al-Islam amounts to "a conflict between national and international law." "We don't know the details of the decision yet," he said. According to filings by defense lawyers at the ICC, Seif al-Islam has said he wants to be tried for alleged war crimes in the Netherlands, not Libya. "I am not afraid to die, but if you execute me after such a trial, you should just call it murder," he said. The Hague court does not have a death penalty.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says hang him high from a yardarm...

Official: trial of Libya's Gadhafi's son in August
Jun 17,`13 -- The trial of ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi's son, his spy chief and his last prime minister will take place in August, a top Libyan official said Monday.

Al-Seddik al-Sur of the state prosecutor's office told reporters that Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, Abdullah al-Senoussi and ex-premier al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, along with ex-spokesman Milad Daman, will be tried for crimes committed during under Gadhafi'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 Seif al-Islam in The Hague. Libya also asked for suspension of its order to him over to the ICC.

Seif al-Islam is being held by a militia in the Libyan town of Zintan. ICC judges ruled that Libya cannot give Seif 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 Seif al-Islam's imprisonment in the capital, Tripoli, or put pressure on his captors to hand him over to the government. Gadhafi's son is also being tried on separate charges of harming state security.

Also Monday, two senior Gadhafi officials, former Foreign Minister Abdel-Ati al-Obeidi and ex-Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Zway were acquitted of wasting public funds while paying compensation to victims of a bombing on an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. The amount of the compensation was $2.7 billion. Libya's regime was held responsible.

The 1988 bombing was one of the deadliest attacks on an airliner in modern history, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. Many of the victims were American college students flying home for Christmas.

Source

 

[waltky]

Tribal areas in Libya squabblin' over where to try son of Gadhafi...

Gadhafi Son Appears in Court in Tribal Stronghold
September 19, 2013 — The son and one-time political heir of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared in a tribal court on Thursday after the militia holding him defied an order from the state to deliver him to a jail in the capital.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi has been held in a remote desert outpost since his capture nearly two years ago by fighters who consider him a trophy and a bargaining chip for their tribe's influence and who are distrustful of a government they say is failing the state. Responding to the judge's question of whether he wanted to be tried in Tripoli, Saif al-Islam, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), said he preferred to remain in Zintan, 140 km (90 miles) southwest of the capital. "Zintan is part of Libya and I don't have a desire to move to anywhere else," said a smiling Saif, who was seated in an iron cage, wearing blue overalls and flanked by masked guards.

Zintan fighters caught Saif al-Islam in the southern desert a month after his father was captured and battered to death by a mob. They have become the most powerful fighting force in the capital and hold sway across western Libya. His trial in Zintan, rather than being for crimes against humanity for which he is wanted in Tripoli and The Hague, is on a lesser charge of giving sensitive information to an ICC lawyer. Some Libyans say the Zintan fighters are doing more to protect him than to bring him to justice.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of Libya's former dictator Moammar Gadhafi, inside courtroom cage, Zintan

In the power struggle between different militia since Gaddafi's fall, Zintan fighters have aligned themselves to tribes that once formed Gaddafi's power base, and analysts say this partly explains their benevolent attitude towards Saif al-Islam.

Former prisoners under Gaddafi staged a noisy protest outside a Tripoli court on Thursday, where the head of the once-feared national spy agency, Abdullah al-Senussi, and others appeared for a pre-trial hearing which critics said was mostly aimed at placating public opinion. "We don't want money! We want those responsible for beheading people to be tried!" the crowd chanted. They also called for Saif al-Islam's trial to be moved from Zintan.

Gadhafi Son Appears in Court in Tribal Stronghold