A file picture taken from a press room in Tripoli on April 27, 2014, shows Saif al-Islam answering judges’ questions by video conference from a prison in Zintan.
AFP
The Hague
The International Criminal Court yesterday rejected a final bid by Tripoli’s lawyers to try slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam in Libya, meaning he must now be transferred to The Hague.
Saif’s transfer to face charges relating to the bloody repression of the 2011 uprising that toppled his father however is a moot point as he is being held by a Libyan militia rather than any central authority in the chaos-wracked country.
The presiding ICC judge Erkki Kourulas struck down four grounds of appeal before the world’s war crimes court, saying “in the present case the Appeals Chamber confirms the (pre-trial chamber’s) decision and dismisses the appeal”.
ICC pre-trial judges a year ago rejected Tripoli’s request to put Saif in the dock in Libya, saying the country was unable to give him a fair hearing.
This included Tripoli’s inability to transfer Saif, Gaddafi’s one-time heir apparent, to the Libyan capital from his prison in the hilltop stronghold of Zintan, where he is currently being held by militia members.
Tripoli appealed the original decision a few days later, in June.
Saif, 41, and Gaddafi’s former spy chief Abdullah Senussi, around 64, have been charged for their roles in violent attempts to put down the 2011 uprising in the desert country that eventually toppled Gaddafi’s regime.