Associated Press in Tripoli
theguardian.com, Wednesday 28 August 2013
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senoussi among 28 former regime members to be tried on various charges
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi after his capture by a militia group in late 2011. Photograph: Reuters
Muammar Gaddafi's son and his spy chief have been charged with murder in relation to Libya's 2011 civil war and are set to stand trial on 19 September, the country's general prosecutor has said.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Abdullah al-Senoussi and 26 other regime members will be tried on various charges ranging from murder, forming armed groups in violation of the law, inciting rape and kidnappings during Gaddafi's 42-year rule and the eight-month civil war that deposed him.
The prosecutor Abdel-Qader Radwan said more than 280 arrest warrants had been issued for others wanted on similar charges.
Radwan's aide, al-Seddik al-Sur, said Senoussi, the former intelligence chief, had confessed to collaborating on producing car bombs in the city of Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising. He said the defendants "were not subject to any form of pressure to extract confessions".
The international criminal court charged Saif al-Islam with murder and persecution of civilians during the early days of the uprising. If convicted by that court, he would have faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, because it does not have the death penalty. This summer the court's judges ruled that Libya could not give him a fair trial and asked authorities to hand him over to The Hague.
Nonetheless, Gaddafi's son remains held by a militia group that captured him in the western mountain town of Zintan as he was fleeing to neighbouring Niger after rebel forces took Libya's capital.
He is also being tried on separate charges of harming state security, attempting to escape prison and insulting Libya's new flag. The charges are linked to his meeting last year with an international court delegation that was accused of smuggling documents and a camera to him in his cell. Zintan rebels held the four-member team but released them after the court apologised and pledged to investigate the incident.
According to filings by defence lawyers at the court, Saif al-Islam said he wanted to be tried for alleged war crimes in the Netherlands, claiming that a Libyan trial would be tantamount to murder.
The rest of Saif al-Islam's family, including his mother, sister, two brothers and others, were granted asylum in Oman in 2012, moving there from Algeria where they found refuge during the civil war.
The rule of law is still weak in Libya after decades of rule by Gaddafi. Courts are still paralysed and security remains tenuous as unruly militias proliferate. The state relies heavily on militias to serve as security forces since the police and military remain a shambles. Successive governments have been too weak to either secure Saif al-Islam's imprisonment in the capital, Tripoli, or put pressure on militia groups to hand him over to the government.
Gaddafi son and spy chief to stand trial in Libya next month | World news | theguardian.com
