The National Transitional Council wants Seif al-Islam, the captured son of Muammar Gaddafi, to go on trial in Libya rather than at the International Criminal Court, the interim justice minister said on Sunday. “We want the trial of Seif al-Islam to take place in Libya because Libyan justice is the rule and international justice is the exception,” Mohammed al-Allagui said. “We have the necessary guarantees for a fair trial, especially after the amendment of a law that guarantees the independence of the judiciary as regards the executive,” he said. World powers have urged Libya to work with the International Criminal Court and ensure a fair trial for Seif al-Islam, son of slain leader Muammar Gaddafi who was arrested after months on the run.
Seif, wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in crushing anti-regime protests, was captured in Libya’s far-flung Saharan south early on Saturday in a trap set by fighters of the Zintan brigade. Despite assurances by Libya’s interim leaders of a “fair trial”, images that emerged of Gaddafi been beaten and later felled by a bullet to the head when he was captured a month ago sparked a worldwide chorus of calls for Seif to be brought safely to justice.
Russia’s special representative for Africa, Mikhail Margelov, clearly articulated the concerns of the international community. “We are happy that this time the new authorities in Libya did not resort to summary justice for Seif al-Islam, the son of the ousted leader Gaddafi,” he said after Seif was shown alive following his capture. Video footage showed Gaddafi’s longtime heir apparent being hauled off into captivity in a northwestern hill town after getting off a flight from the desert south where he was seized.
A fist was thrown as Seif was mobbed by a large crowd of curious onlookers, many of them veterans of the eight-month uprising, but he was spared the brutal lynching dealt out to his father.
Libya’s interim prime minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib moved quickly to give the assurance that Seif would be brought fairly to justice. “I reassure our people and the world that Seif, and those with him, will be given a fair trial in which international rights and norms will be guaranteed,” Kib said.
“The judicial authorities will communicate with the International Criminal Court to examine where Seif al-Islam must be tried,” he said. “Any cooperation with international institutions is welcome,” he added. implying that they would like him to be tried in Libya.
The head of the Zintan brigade which arrested Seif said that Gaddafi’s favourite son asked his captors “to fire a bullet to his head and take him (dead) to Zintan.” News of Seif’s capture was greeted with celebratory gunfire in Libya’s major cities.
