Saturday, September 08, 2012

Rebels in Occupied-Libya Delay Show Trial for Saif al-Islam

Libyan rebels delays trial of Muammar Gaddafi's son to hear from spy chief

Abdullah al-Senussi to be asked for evidence about Saif al-Islam, as Libyans defy judges at The Hague

Chris Stephen
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 September 2012 12.38 EDT

Abdullah al-Senussi, Libya's former chief of intelligence, is expected to know the secrets of many former regime figures, including Saif.

"We expect the trial of Saif al-Islam to be delayed a little because Abdullah Senussi will be able to provide new information that can be used in Saif's trial," said prosecution spokesman Taha Ba'ara.

The interrogation of Senussi has already begun in the Libyan capital amid tight security, with the prime minister, Abdurrahim El Keib, promising to give him a "fair trial".

But his arrival seems likely to deepen a rift between Libya and the international criminal court (ICC). The two have already clashed over the fate of Saif al-Islam.

Both Saif and Senussi were charged by the ICC last year with crimes against humanity, but Libya insists both men will be tried not at The Hague but in Tripoli – and will face execution if found guilty.

The ICC said on Thursday that the Libyan counter-revolutionaries should hand Senussi over to The Hague, prior to any request by the Libyans to stage their own trial. "If the Libyan rebels think they can proceed then they have the judicial channel to challenge this," said ICC spokeswoman Sonia Robla. "This is the principle on which the court was built."

Occupied Libyan rebels have embarked on a different strategy: in May they hired a lawyer Philippe Sands to make a formal application to the ICC for permission to hold a trial in Libya. Judges at The Hague are not likely to announce a decision before November, but Libyan rebels say they will hold Saif's trial this month without waiting for permission.

Richard Dicker, head of international justice at Human Rights Watch in New York, said Occupied Libya's actions over the two suspects would be the litmus test of its commitment to democracy and the rule of law. "It's important for the western-backed Libyan rebel's credibility," he said. "If there was a trial and an execution before the (admissibility) challenge, that would fly in the face of the rebel's obligations."

Few tears will be shed among US-backed Libyan rebels if the country presses ahead with trials and interrogations of Saif and Senussi, who are seen as key players in 40 years of revolution and pan-africanism. But the ICC is likely to complain to the UN security council, which ordered it into action against the Gaddafi regime last year.

"The crisis will come when and if the ICC judges decide that they should retain jurisdiction and the Libyan rebels refuse to hand them [Saif and Senussi] over," said Sir Geoffrey Nice, a war crimes lawyer who prosecuted Serbia's former president, Slobodan Milosevic, "Having no police force of its own, the ICC will throw up its hands in horror and go to the security council."

The Pan-African News Wire contributed to this report.

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