(Brussels) –
Libya should promptly
surrender
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The
Hague. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of Muammar Gaddafi, is wanted for
crimes against humanity.
Libyan authorities will hold a hearing in Tripoli’s South Court on
September 19, 2013, opening the pretrial (or “accusation”) phase in
domestic proceedings against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, as well as the
former intelligence chief and ICC suspect Abdullah Sanussi, and other
senior Gaddafi-era officials. Under Libyan law, a judge must review the
sufficiency and reliability of the prosecutor’s evidence and establish
the precise charges. In its submissions to the ICC, Libya said it
envisaged the charges against the two ICC suspects to include murder,
torture, and indiscriminate killings during the uprising that led to
Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster.
“Carrying on with a domestic proceeding against Saif Gaddafi in the
face of an ICC order to turn him over to The Hague is a serious
misstep,” said
Richard Dicker,
international justice
director at Human Rights Watch. “Libya assured the UN Security Council
it would cooperate with the court, and it needs to turn Saif Gaddafi
over to The Hague without any more delay.”
On July 18, an ICC appeals chamber
rejected Libya’s
request
to delay turning Gaddafi over to the ICC until the court rules on the
appeal of Libya’s bid to prosecute him domestically, which the ICC had
rejected. In their
decision, the ICC judges concluded that transferring Gaddafi to The Hague would not hinder Libya’s domestic investigations.
United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1970,
which referred the situation in Libya to the ICC, requires the Libyan
authorities to cooperate fully with the court, a binding requirement
under the UN Charter, even though Libya is not a party to the treaty
that established the court. This cooperation includes abiding by the
court’s decisions and requests, as well as adhering to the court’s
procedures.
Libya has promised to abide by its obligations. In a recent
submission to
the ICC, Libya said it “does not dispute that it is bound by Security
Council Resolution 1970.” Members of the UN Security Council, which
unanimously gave the ICC jurisdiction to investigate the situation in
Libya, should send a strong message to authorities there to cooperate
with the court.
On July 23, Gaddafi’s ICC defense team
asked
the ICC judges to find that Libya had failed to cooperate with the
court by refusing to surrender Gaddafi. Article 87 of the ICC treaty
permits the court to issue a finding of non-cooperation.
Because the ICC has jurisdiction in Libya as a result of a Security
Council referral, such a finding would be sent to the Security Council
for follow-up. The Security Council then has a range of options,
including resolutions, sanctions, and presidential statements. On August
14, Libya
asked the court to reject the defense request on the basis of Libya’s good faith efforts to engage with the ICC.
Anti-Gaddafi forces
apprehended Saif
al-Islam Gaddafi on November 19, 2011, in southern Libya and are
holding him in the town of Zintan. Although the Libyan government has
indicated
since January 2012 that it
plans to transfer Gaddafi
to a detention facility in Tripoli, these efforts appear stalled. The
Libyan authorities should view getting custody of Gaddafi from the
militia that is holding him a priority so that he can be promptly
surrendered to the ICC.
Libya filed its
legal bid
at the ICC to prosecute Gaddafi domestically on May 1, 2012, and was
initially told it could postpone surrendering him to the ICC until it
made its decision. On May 31, 2013, the ICC judges
rejected Libya’s bid and reminded the Libyan authorities of their obligation to surrender him.
The court held that Libya had not provided enough evidence to
demonstrate that it was investigating the same case as the one before
the ICC, a requirement under the ICC treaty for such challenges, and
that it was unable genuinely to carry out an investigation of Gaddafi.
The judges concluded that the Libyan authorities have neither been able
to secure legal representation for Gaddafi nor to facilitate his
transfer into government custody.
The ICC is also considering a separate Libyan
challenge to the court’s jurisdiction to try Sanussi and has
granted
the authorities permission to postpone surrendering him, pending a
decision. However, the ICC judges have made clear that Libya must not
take any action during the postponement period that would hinder
Sanussi’s prompt surrender to The Hague if it fails in its bid to
prosecute him domestically. Lawyers representing Sanussi at the ICC have
since filed an
appeal of the decision allowing Libya to postpone the former intelligence chief’s surrender.
Libya says that it is actively investigating the case against Sanussi outlined in the ICC’s arrest warrant. Libya also
contends
that the scope of its Sanussi investigation extends back to the 1980s
and involves serious human rights violations committed during Gaddafi’s
rule, including the June 1996 killing of more than 1,200 prisoners in
Tripoli’s
Abu Salim
prison. The Security Council gave the ICC ongoing authority over events
in Libya beginning on February 15, 2011, covering the period of the
protests that resulted in Gaddafi’s ouster.
hrw.
قبل
أقل من عامين، حض وزير الدفاع البريطاني السابق، فيليب هاموند، رجال
الأعمال البريطانيين على البدء "بحزم حقائبهم" والسفر إلى ليبيا للمشاركة
في إعادة إعمار البلاد، واستغلال الطفرة المتوقعة في الموارد الطبيعية، إلا
أن ليبيا اليوم أوقفت بشكل شبه تام إنتاجها من النفط، مع فقدان الحكومة
سيطرتها على قسم كبير من البلاد بسبب الميليشيات. وقد
استولى رجال أمن انتفضوا ضد قادتهم على موانئ النفط الليبية المطلة على
البحر المتوسط، وهم يسعون لبيع النفط الخام في السوق السوداء. ورئيس
الوزراء الليبي، علي زيدان، هدد "بقصف من الجو والبحر" لأي ناقلة نفط تحاول
نقل النفط غير الشرعي من مواقع حراس محطات النفط، وهؤلاء الحراس هم
بمعظمهم ثوار سابقون أطاحوا بالرئيس الليبي الأسبق معمر القذافي، وكانوا
مضربين احتجاجاً على تدني الأجور، والفساد الحكومي المزعوم منذ يوليو
الماضي.