Libya faces deadline on status of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

GlobalPost

Libyan authorities have been given a deadline of 5 pm (10 am EST) on Tuesday to tell the International Crime Court the status of Muammar Gaddafi's son, and whether they will hand him over to the court, CNN reported.

As the deadline looms close, Libya has yet to give an answer. If Libya doesn’t give a reply, the country faces referral to the United Nations Security Council.

Read more at GlobalPost: Detained Said al-Islam Gaddafi denied access to lawyers in Libya

"The standard of the ICC is that it has to be a judicial process that is not organized to shield the suspect… and I respect that it's important for the cases to be tried in Libya… and I am not competing for the case,” said Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief ICC prosecutor, the BBC reported.

Although the ICC accepted that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will be tried in Libya, it wants assurance the country will produce a fair trial, the BBC reported. Not only does the court want to know this, it has yet to hear from Libya on the status of Gadaffi’s mental and physical health.

Gaddafi was captured and arrested in November, shortly after his father was killed, and was indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity, the BBC reported. He is being held in Zintan, a town in the western mountains of Libya.

According to the UN Security Council resolution, the ruling National Transitional Council is obliged to hand over Gaddafi to the ICC unless it can convince the court they will try him fairly within the country, Australia Broadcasting Company reported.

Last month, a representative of Human Rights Watch, a human rights group in New York, visited Gaddafi. He told the group he was being treated well, although he was not permitted to meet with a lawyer.

Read more at GlobalPost: Photos: The rise and fall of Muammer Gaddafi


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