Libya won’t send Saif to ICC

AMAKO - Agence France-Presse

Libya will not send Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the most prominent son of the country’s former leader, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, but will put him on trial in his own country, Justice Minister Ali Ashour said on April 8.

Saif al-Islam remains in a secret prison in the custody of the Zintan rebels who caught him last year and will be tried in Libya by Libyan judges on charges of financial corruption, murder and rape, Ashour said.
Despite the ICC’s demands that he be sent to The Hague for trial, “there is no intention to hand him (Saif al-Islam) over to the ICC, and Libyan law is the right system to be used to try Saif Gadhafi,” Ashour said. He denied allegations of mistreatment made by an ICC defense lawyer, who said this week that Saif al-Islam had been beaten and had been misled about the charges against him. “He eats with the people who guard him, and he is in good condition,” he said.

Pressure is mounting on Libya to hand Gadhafi’s son to the ICC as human rights organizations say the country is unable to give him a fair trial. Saif al-Islam faces the death penalty if found guilty by a Libyan court and a prison term if convicted by the ICC.