Post date: Aug 27, 2013 10:58:32 PM
The trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya's ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi, is to begin on September 19, the prosecutor general says.
TRIPOLI, LIBYA (AUGUST 27, 2013) (REUTERS) - The son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been charged with murder in relation to Libya's 2011 civil war and will stand trial next month, the country's general prosecutor Abdel Qader Radwan announced on Tuesday (August 27).
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will stand trial along with Libya's former intelligence chief,Abdullah al-Senussi, and former Prime Minister, Al Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi."The convicted will be transferred to the accusation room of North Tripoli Primary Court on the 19th of September, 2013, " Radwan told a news conference in Tripoli.
"The most prominent of the accused are: number one, Saif al-Islam Mummer AlGaddafi, number two, Abdullah Imhemmed al-Senussi Amer, former director of military intelligence, and number three, Al Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, former secretary of Public Committee (Prime Minister)," he added.
All three face charges over alleged crimes committed during Gaddafi's 42-year rule and during the eight-month civil war in which he was killed.
Last February, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had ruled Libya cannot give Gaddafi's son a fair trial and asked authorities to hand him over to The Hague-based court.
However Libya is keen to show the world that it can conduct the trial in a just manner.
"Tomorrow I will be in front of the ICC in the Hague to present and defend the case for Libya holding the trial here. These kinds of decisions give me an opportunity to show Libya as a country that supports justice and that the Libyan court can deal with these trials according to international customs," said Libya's representative at the ICC, Ahmed al-Jehani.
Libya wants to prosecute Saif al-Islam Gaddafi at home, where he might face the death penalty, rather than hand him to the ICC where he could only receive a jail sentence.