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Libyan trial demand for Gadhafi son
Source: Agencies |
November 21, 2011, Monday
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LIBYAN militiamen were holding one-time heir apparent Saif al-Islam Gadhafi in their mountain stronghold of Zintan yesterday, a day after seizing him without a fight in the southern desert.
The rebels who captured Saif al-Islam, a month after his father, Moammar Gadhafi, was captured and killed, said they will hold him until a court system is set up in Libya and are demanding he be tried inside the country.
The head of Zintan's military council, Colonel Mohammed al-Khabash, said the younger Gadhafi will be held in the stronghold until a Libyan court system is established.
"The final act of the Libyan drama," as a spokesman for the former rebels put it, began in the blackness of the Sahara night, when a small unit of fighters from Zintan, acting on a tip-off, intercepted Saif al-Islam and four armed companions in a pair of 4x4 vehicles on a desert track.
It ended, after a 300-mile flight north on a cargo plane, with the London-educated, 39-year-old heir-apparent to four decades of dictatorship held in a safe house in Zintan and the townsfolk vowing to keep him safe until he can face a judge in the capital.
His captors said he was "very scared" when they first recognized him despite his heavy beard and enveloping Tuareg robes and turban. But they reassured him he was safe.
Abdul al-Salaam al-Wahissi, a Zintan fighter involved in the operation, said: "He looked tired. He had been lost in the desert for many days. I think he lost his guide."
The fighters holding him said they were determined he would not meet the fate of his father, who was killed after being seized.
Western leaders, who backed February's uprising against Moammar Gadhafi but looked on in horror as rebel fighters filmed themselves taking vengeance on the fallen strongman a month ago, urged the new government of Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib to seek foreign help to ensure a fair trial.
Keib promised justice would be done but Saif al--Islam would not be handed over to the International Criminal Court at the Hague, which has indicted him for crimes against humanity.
Keib was expected to announce a cabinet line-up today.
The justice minister from the outgoing executive said Saif al-Islam was likely to face the death penalty, though the charge sheet, expected to include ordering killings as well as looting the public purse, would be drawn up by the state prosecutor.
Saif al-Islam's fate will be a test for Keib's incoming government as it sets out to stamp its authority on a country now dominated by armed militias with largely local loyalties.
Keib said Libya would make sure Gadhafi's son had a fair trial and called his capture the "crowning" of the uprising.
Keib said: "We assure Libyans and the world that Saif al-Islam will receive a fair trial … under fair legal processes which our own people had been deprived of for the last 40 years."
The rebels who captured Saif al-Islam, a month after his father, Moammar Gadhafi, was captured and killed, said they will hold him until a court system is set up in Libya and are demanding he be tried inside the country.
The head of Zintan's military council, Colonel Mohammed al-Khabash, said the younger Gadhafi will be held in the stronghold until a Libyan court system is established.
"The final act of the Libyan drama," as a spokesman for the former rebels put it, began in the blackness of the Sahara night, when a small unit of fighters from Zintan, acting on a tip-off, intercepted Saif al-Islam and four armed companions in a pair of 4x4 vehicles on a desert track.
It ended, after a 300-mile flight north on a cargo plane, with the London-educated, 39-year-old heir-apparent to four decades of dictatorship held in a safe house in Zintan and the townsfolk vowing to keep him safe until he can face a judge in the capital.
His captors said he was "very scared" when they first recognized him despite his heavy beard and enveloping Tuareg robes and turban. But they reassured him he was safe.
Abdul al-Salaam al-Wahissi, a Zintan fighter involved in the operation, said: "He looked tired. He had been lost in the desert for many days. I think he lost his guide."
The fighters holding him said they were determined he would not meet the fate of his father, who was killed after being seized.
Western leaders, who backed February's uprising against Moammar Gadhafi but looked on in horror as rebel fighters filmed themselves taking vengeance on the fallen strongman a month ago, urged the new government of Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib to seek foreign help to ensure a fair trial.
Keib promised justice would be done but Saif al--Islam would not be handed over to the International Criminal Court at the Hague, which has indicted him for crimes against humanity.
Keib was expected to announce a cabinet line-up today.
The justice minister from the outgoing executive said Saif al-Islam was likely to face the death penalty, though the charge sheet, expected to include ordering killings as well as looting the public purse, would be drawn up by the state prosecutor.
Saif al-Islam's fate will be a test for Keib's incoming government as it sets out to stamp its authority on a country now dominated by armed militias with largely local loyalties.
Keib said Libya would make sure Gadhafi's son had a fair trial and called his capture the "crowning" of the uprising.
Keib said: "We assure Libyans and the world that Saif al-Islam will receive a fair trial … under fair legal processes which our own people had been deprived of for the last 40 years."
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