Judges at the International Criminal Court say Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, his son Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and intelligence chief Abdullah Al-Senussi, must face trial for alleged crimes against humanity during the civil uprising in February.
Judges issued arrest warrants on Monday, saying there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that the three are responsible for murder and persecution as part of a state policy targetting civilians and dissidents, and that their arrest is "necessary." The judges said there is enough evidence to suspect Gaddafi, his son and head of intelligence, of conceiving, planning and taking part in a "widespread and systematic attack on the state population."
Ultimate control
The decision says it appears that Gaddafi had "absolute and ultimate control" over the security forces and that his son Saif held power over finances and logistics, acting as de facto Prime Minister. And that together with Sanussi, the three had full control over the Libyan state apparatus. The judges said the three must now be arrested, to ensure they are brought to The Hague; that they do not continue to obstruct the ICC investigation by covering up crimes committed by the security forces and to prevent them from continuing to exercise control over the state apparatus.
Making arrests
The ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo opened an investigation into the situation in Libya after the UN Security Council made a referral to the court on 26 February. He also accuses Gaddafi of ordering the sniping at civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers.
The question now is - how will the ICC be able to secure the arrest of the Libyan leader and his two closest aides? Mohammed Al-Allagi, responsible for justice within the Libyan Transitional Council told RNW it would "establish commandos to arrest Colonel Gaddafi." "We accept the rule of the ICC and after we liberate Libya from Gaddafi we are going to sign the Rome Statute," he said.
Ocampo said crimes against humanity in Libya would continue until Gaddafi is arrested. He has also said he would consider enlisting the help of neighbouring African countries in making arrests.
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Is there a more ridiculous waste of money than that spent on tribunals and trials carried out in The Hague?.
It is amazing that politicians and lawyers think it worthwhile that tyrants like Sadam Hussein and Colonel Gaddafi and now his son should have to be tried there, what do they expect to learn that is not already known. Did they really expect Gaddafi to shed any light on Lockerbie and even if he did how could we believe anything he said. It is much more likely that he would do a Milosovich and refuse to accept that that court had jurisdiction to try him anyway.
The Libyan soldiers/rebels who obviously decided that the world would be a better place without Gaddafi had more sense than the politicians and lawyers put together they have saved us all a small fortune and prevented this thug from having a platform. Clearly the lawyers based in The Hague prefer to try such people they are all on the gravy train they have only taken 8 years so far (expected to finish 2014) on the former Yugoslavia what a joke, it would be interesting to know what they think they have achieved.
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