International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Nov. 23 that the ICC [2] would allow Libya to conduct the trial of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi. Despite concern from human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch [3], about whether Saif al-Islam Qaddafi can receive a fair trial in Libya, Ocampo said he trusts the new Libyan government will be able to try him fairly and maintained that the ICC will not intervene as long as it does not stray from ICC standards. The ICC issued a statement [4] clarifying that, "[s]hould the Libyan authorities wish to conduct national prosecutions against the suspect, they shall submit a challenge to the admissibility of the case before Pre-Trial Chamber I... Any decision on the admissibility of a case is under the sole competence of the Judges of the ICC." On the issue of the trial of Moammar Qaddafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, Ocampo denied reports [5] by Libya's National Transitional Council that he had been captured.
From Jurist [6], Nov. 23. Used with permission.
See our last posts on Libya [7] and the Arab revolutions [8].
