ICC denies deal for Gaddafi son to be tried in Libya

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The International Criminal Court denied Monday that it had agreed that Seif al-Islam, slain Libyan dictator Moamer Gaddafi’s most prominent son, can be tried in Libya. “The ICC has made no decision on this matter,” court spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah told AFP in response to a claim by Libya’s Justice Minister Ali H’mida Ashur that Seif would be judged by a Libyan court. The ICC said earlier in a Twitter message that it had received a reply from the Libyan authorities to questions asked by its judges by a Monday deadline. “The ICC has accepted that Seif al-Islam will be tried in Libya by the Libyan judiciary,” Ashur told AFP. “The trial will take place in Libya. The Libyan justice is competent and we gave the file (on Seif) to the ICC on Friday,” Ashur added. Seif, 39, who was arrested on November 19, is in the custody of the military council of Zintan, a town 180 kilometres (110 miles), southwest of Tripoli. He is wanted by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the conflict in Libya. Libya’s National Transitional Council had already told the ICC in a letter published on November 24 that Tripoli wanted to try him