Libya's revolutionary council will vote to decide whether or not to send beleaguered strongmanMuammar Gaddafi's captured son to face international justice, its envoy to Paris told AFP.
Mansur Seif al-Nasr, the official representative of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) in France, told AFP the movement makes all important decisions by a vote of its national executive council.
Gaddafi's son and former heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, was captured by rebel forces yesterday as the regime's defence of its capital Tripoli crumbled in the face of an insurgent siege and a street revolt within.
Along with his father, Seif has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on suspicion of crimes against humanity, and prosecutors have asked that they be sent to The Hague for trial.
But Nasr said: "The NTC will decide his fate, whether he is to be transfered to the ICC or judged in Libya. It is for the council to decide."
He admitted, however, that neither Seif nor his father could be tried in Libya until the revolutionary council was able to set up a new legal system.
"Once the new courts are set up, there will be air trials, with a defence, observers and the press," he promised.
Nasr confirmed that another of Gaddafi's sons, the eldest, Mohammed, had surrendered to revolutionary forces and was now "under their protection".
Seif al-Islam is accused together with his father of orchestrating a plan to put down the six-month-old Libyan revolt by "any means necessary".
This allegedly led to the murder of hundreds of anti-regime demonstrators and the wounding of hundreds of others when security forces shot at crowds, as well as the arrest and torture of numerous others.
Gaddafi's exact whereabouts are now unclear, but his forces appear to have lost control of the capital and gunbattles are continuing around his fortified compound, where some believe him to be holed up.
No comments:
Post a Comment