Gaddafi Trial -- Like Father, Like Son?

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi, is set to go on trial in Tripoli today. Libya's new authorities insist that it will be fair and not a 'Mickey Mouse' trial, all the while refusing to extradite Saif to face charges in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Can he really expect justice and a fate different from his father's in a country that is on the brink of anarchy? And does the international community have the political will to enforce justice in what is increasingly perceived to be its toothless paper tiger? John Jones, Saif al-Islam's lawyer in the ICC, joins Oksana to mull over these issues.

Settling Scores: Gaddafi's Son Faces Trial in Libya, Fair Hearing Doubtful

The son of the late Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi will stand trial today on charges of killings, allegedly committed during the country's 2011 civil war. The hearings are taking place in Tripoli as Libya has defied numerous requests from the International Criminal Court to hand Saif Al-Islam over to The Hague. The authorities insist they will ensure a fair trail but as RT's Paula Slier reports, many doubt that promise.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's Lawyer Calls for UK Intervention over Execution Fears

THE GUARDIAN: William Hague criticised by UK barrister for failing to back ICC ruling ordering Libya to hand over dictator's son to Hague court

The British lawyer representing Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has called on the UK to intervene on his client's behalf amid fears that the son of the former Libyan dictator will be sentenced to death in a trial expected later in August.

In a letter to the foreign secretary, John Jones QC urged the government to condemn Libya's refusal to hand over his client to the international criminal court to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Tripoli has so far refused to comply with the ICC's order that Gaddafi be sent to The Hague, in the Netherlands, and said repeatedly it would hold its own trial.

Last week a court in Misrata handed down the death sentence to Libya's former education minister Ahmed Ibrahim, and Jones fears that Gaddafi, 41, may share the same fate. » | Chris Stephen in Tripoli | Thursday, August 08, 2013

'Gaddafi's Son May Face Execution after Show Trial in Libya' - Lawyer

Nearly two years after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in Libya - his son, Saif al-Islam, is yet to stand trial for alleged war crimes committed during the 2011 uprising. He's set for a hearing in Libya in August - but International Criminal Court judges fear he won't receive a fair trial there. Libya is meanwhile defying an ICC ruling by refusing to hand him over to the Hague, insisting on trial at home.

Gaddafi's Son Facing Gallows in Libya: Lawyer

ABC NEWS: Moamar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam will be hanged if he is tried in Libya, his Australian lawyer has told International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

While the ICC wants Saif, the only son of the slain Libyan leader in custody, to be tried in The Hague, Libya's post-revolutionary authorities insist he should stand trial in his home country.

Libya's lawyers told a three-judge bench the country had enough evidence to charge Saif with crimes against humanity, committed when Gaddafi and his loyalists tried to put down Libya's bloody revolution last year. » | AFP | Thursday, October 11, 2012

Zintan Holds Tight to 'Prize' Saif al-Islam
Fighters in the western mountain town of Zintan have refused to give up Saif al-Islam, the most prominent son of slain ruler Muammar Gaddafi, saying his secrets are too important to risk. On Sunday, Zintanis detained an International Criminal Court lawyer who was visiting Saif al-Islam for allegedly trying to deliver letters to him. They say the letters, which she hid in her clothing, posed a danger to Libya's national security. Zintan's leaders say their people sacrificed many lives for the revolution that ended Gaddafi's rule, and that Saif al-Islam has information that could implicate Libya's interim leaders and foreign countries in wrong doing. Al Jazeera's Omar al-Saleh reports from Zintan.

Saif Gaddafi 'Wants to Be Tried in Libya'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the imprisoned son of the former Libyan dictator, has aligned himself with the new government by declaring his opposition to extradition to face war crimes charges in The Hague.

International Criminal Court investigators who met with Saif Gaddafi at a mountaintop detention centre south of Tripoli earlier this month said that he had expressed a preference to be tried in his own country, even if he faced the death penalty.

The ICC also confirmed that Gaddafi had suffered torture and abuse after he was captured last November.

The comments appear to have been made under duress with a government official sitting in on the discussion. Even so, the stakes for Gaddafi could not be higher. Deportation for an ICC trial would remove threat of a death sentence even if he was convinced of all counts in the war crimes trials. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Ghadhafi-Sohn Saif al-Islam in der Haft Gewalt ausgesetzt
NZZ ONLINE: Der Sohn des früheren libyschen Machthabers Ghadhafi, Saif al-Islam, ist in der Haft in Libyen körperlicher Gewalt ausgesetzt. Dies erklärte die Verteidigung am Internationalen Strafgerichtshof (ICC) am Donnerstag. » | sda/afp | Donnerstag, 05. April 2012

ICC Rejects Libya's Request Over Gaddafi Son Surrender
REUTERS.COM: The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday ordered Libya to immediately hand over for trial Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader, but Libya's new authorities said they still wanted to try him themselves.

The court in The Hague ordered Tripoli to "comply with its obligations to enforce the warrant of arrest" and surrender him into the court's custody without delay, rejecting a Libyan request to delay the handover.

The ICC says it has jurisdiction in the case and that a U.N. Security Council Resolution obliges Libya to cooperate. It has warned that Tripoli's failure to hand Saif al-Islam over could result in it being reported to the Council.

Along with human rights organizations, it harbors concerns about the fairness of Libya's new justice system.

Since the elder Gaddafi was killed after being captured alive by rebel fighters, competing militias have yet to lay down their arms and Western human rights organizations have accused them of carrying out numerous extra-judicial executions and other abuses, raising serious questions about the rule of law. » | Ivana Sekularac and Marie-Louise Gumuchian | AMSTERDAM / TRIPOLI | Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Libya's Saif Gadhafi Could Be Tried Within Weeks, Official Says

Read article here | Nic Robertson, CNN | Sunday, February 05, 2012

Saif Gaddafi Sets Libya's New Rulers a Test of Commitment to Human Rights

THE GUARDIAN: Tyrant's son has become an unlikely rallying point for human rights activists as he languishes in jail without a lawyer

Home for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is currently a converted living room with a dirty beige carpet in a compound close to Zintan, a modest mountain town 100 miles south-east of Libya's capital, Tripoli. Uniformed guards are his only company and he is denied visitors, television, radio and the internet.

He shakes hands with his few visitors with his left hand, because the thumb and forefinger of his right have been severed. He insists this was the result of being targeted in a Nato air strike, but some Libyans think it was the work of a rebel sympathiser, as punishment for Saif's habit of wagging his finger at rebels on his television broadcasts. Fred Abrahams of Human Rights Watch, granted a rare interview with Saif, reported that he looked well and gets fed three times a day. What Saif does not get is access to a lawyer, or any sight of the charges that Libya's new rulers say he faces.

Which is why, less than three months after his father's death, Saif is fast becoming an unlikely rallying point for international human rights advocates. It is a twist of fate no one would have anticipated, but Libya's rulers face increasing criticism over their failure to fulfil promises to set up a proper justice system. Saif, always the most influential son of the late Muammar Gaddafi, has been languishing in his makeshift prison cell since being arrested by militias in November.

The failure of the authorities to tell him what he is charged with or give him access to a lawyer has prompted a torrent of criticism from rights groups. » | Chris Stephen | Saturday, January 07, 2012

Blair’s Government Tried to Get Oxford Place for Saif Gaddafi
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Blair government tried to secure a place at Oxford University for Saif al-Islam, the son of Muammar Gaddafi.

A senior Foreign Office official contacted the university in 2002 as part of efforts to establish better relations with the Libyan regime, according to a report.

“It was made clear that the FCO would appreciate help in this case since Libya was opened up to the West again,” Professor Valpy FitzGerald said in the report. The request came two years before Mr Blair’s deal in the desert, which formally reopened diplomatic links.

The approach was disclosed by an inquiry, carried out by Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice, into the “disastrous” relationship that subsequently developed between Gaddafi’s Libya and the London School of Economics. Continue reading and comment » | Graeme Paton, Education Editor | Wednesday, November 30. 2011

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Gaddafi and Me: Professor Explains Why LSE Took Cash from Libyan Tyrant’s Son
THE INDEPENDENT: The man who helped to elicit a £1.5m donation from Saif al-Islam’s foundation tells his side of the story

A description of how Saif Gaddafi changed into a "frightened" man as the Libyan revolution approached is given today by his informal academic adviser from the London School of Economics.

Professor David Held, professor of political science at the LSE, is expected to face criticism – along with the university hierarchy – when the long-awaited inquiry into its links with the Libyan regime is published today.

In the first interview he has given about the saga – he spoke to reporters from the LSE's student newspaper, The Beaver – Professor Held acknowledges that he knew at the time that a £1.5m donation to the university from the Gaddafi charity would be "controversial". He says that, with hindsight, his behaviour could "give rise to a perception it was mistaken".

The professor also speaks of student Saif Gaddafi as a "young man who was struggling to make sense of the world, struggling to think about issues which obviously were not easy for him to think about".

He adds: "After four years or so, I found him to be much like an American liberal. He used to say there is nothing wrong with American democracy promotion in the Middle East – I'd be horrified by that statement – because Arabs should promote democracy themselves." » | Nicola Alexander, Alex Haigh, Richard Garner | Wednesday, November 30, 2011

La gangrène menace Seif al-Islam s’il n’est pas soigné

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le fils de Mouammar Kadhafi, arrêté le 19 novembre et blessé à la main droite, pourrait développer une gangrène si ses blessures ne sont pas soignées, a déclaré lundi le médecin ukrainien qui l’a examiné.

Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, fils de l’ancien dirigeant libyen arrêté le 19 novembre dans le sud du pays, pourrait développer une gangrène si ses blessures ne sont pas soignées, a déclaré lundi le médecin ukrainien qui l’a examiné.

"Ses blessures sont graves mais quand je les ai vues, elles n’étaient pas gangrenées. Elles peuvent le devenir si elles ne sont pas soignées", a déclaré le Dr Andreï Mourakhovsky, qui a fait un pansement à la main droite du prisonnier au lendemain de son arrestation.

Une semaine après cette première visite, le Dr Mourakhovsky a exprimé son inquiétude: "J’avais été appelé par le conseil militaire. J’ai nettoyé la blessure et j’ai fait un pansement. Maintenant, il faut refaire un nouveau pansement. Le chef du conseil militaire a dit qu’il allait m’appeler mais ils ne l’ont toujours pas fait". » | AFP | lundi 28 novembre 2011

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Now Scared, Alone and Pondering His Fate

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, held in a secret location by the men of Zintan who his family fought, must wonder if he will get a fair trial - and then execution.

There are no books, and no television. More importantly perhaps, for a partygoer used to shooting weekends at country houses and birthday celebrations, there is no company.

In an anonymous concrete house, in the back streets of the mountain stronghold of Zintan, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi sits alone, with no access yet to a lawyer, friends, or even the four men captured with him.

"For sure, he is just sitting there, thinking about his fate," Osama Jueili, the head of the Zintan Brigade and the man responsible for Saif al-Islam's security, told The Sunday Telegraph.

He does have 20 brigade men on permanent station to guard him. It is doubtful they have much in common with the man who pursued the bright lights of Europe in white tie and tails and once thought he was destined to rule over them.

The capture of the late dictator's son was a happy moment for Libya. A clean operation, it was performed without the bloodlust attendant on his father, Muammar, and brother, Mutassim.

Yet unlike their deaths, Saif al-Islam's fate will linger in the international consciousness for months as he is brought to trial and, most likely, convicted and hanged. Endless questions will be raised – not least by his own lawyers – about his character, his relationship to his father, and his close contacts with politicians and businessmen like Tony Blair, and fellow partygoers Peter Mandelson, Nathaniel Rothschild and Oleg Deripaska.

The process will be a test too of the stability of the new Libya, and of whether a country held in thrall to the whim of one man can unite to the difficult cause of building peaceful, prosperous institutions. » | Richard Spencer, Zintan | Sunday, November 27, 2011

Libya: Saif Gaddafi Warns Captors about Islamist Leaders in New Video
Shot on the day of his capture, a new video shows Saif al-Islam Gaddafi smiling with his captors before issuing them a strong warning about Libya's new radical leaders and the risk of internal divisions.

Read article here | Tuesday, November 22, 2011

'Hero' Tribesman Who Helped Capture Saif Gaddafi Reveals: 'He Offered Me a Million Euros to Get Him Out of Libya, Instead I Drove Him to an Ambush'

MAIL ONLINE: Military commander whose troops captured Saif is rewarded with role as nation's new defence minister / Libya can try ousted leader's son at home, but International Criminal Court insists its judges must be involved

Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif, on the run in Libya as rebel forces closed in on him, offered a village tribesman one million euros to drive him safely over the border into Niger, it was claimed today.

The so-called playboy son of the deposed leader promised to pay the £860,000-odd sum for safe passage, so that he could one day return to reclaim control of Libya.

But the tribesman, Yussef Saleh al-Hotmani, instead drove Saif to a part of the desert where rebel gunmen were lying in wait.

Mr Hotmani said he had been offered the money - the equivalent of more than 1.6 million Lybian dinar - so Saif and four companions could escape capture and possible execution at the hands of troops loyal to the National Transitional Council.

But he said: 'I was offered millions but all the money they had would not buy a pebble of our sand or one drop of our martyrs' blood.'

It might have also been because Mr Hotmani had feared he would be killed after holding up his end of the bargain.

Mr Hotmani was speaking to reporters in Zintan, where Saif is being held at a secret location before the details of his prosecution are finalised. » | Daily Mail Reporter | Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Betrayed by His Desert Guide
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was betrayed to his captors by Yusef Saleh al-Hotmani, a Libyan nomad who says he was hired to help Muammar Gaddafi's son escape to neighbouring Niger on the promise he would be paid one million euros.

Read article here | Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Sex-obsessed Saif Beat Me and Took Drugs, Says Gaddafi's Son's Stripper Ex-wife

MAIL ONLINE: • Nadia hoped for family but he wanted 'lovers and orgies' • She embraced Islam but wasn't treated as mistress of house • Claims he put her in a coma by throwing her from window during row

A woman claiming to be the ex-wife of Colonel Gaddafi's captured son Saif al-Islam has emerged in Ukraine with extraordinary stories alleging domestic violence and womanising.

Nadia, a blue-eyed brunette claims to have met him when she worked as a stripper in a top Moscow nightclub, and says she is currently in hiding, fearing for her life.

She claimed that as she prepared for marriage to Saif, she had to fly to Paris to have an operation to 'restore' her virginity.'

'The doctor proved my innocence in the presence of Saif's aunt. Then I embraced Islam,' she added.

'I tried to have a normal family, but Saif wanted to live as a single man with lovers and orgies,' she said in a Ukrainian newspaper interview.

While there is no proof of her claim of have married and divorced Saif after two years, her claim appears to be taken seriously in Russia and Ukraine.

If she is who she says, she could be a key witness at his trial whether it is in Libya or under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

One aspect of his trial is likely to be his alleged friendship with a number of prominent British figures, including Prince Andrew, Tony Blair and Lord Mandelson. Read on and comment » | Will Stewart | Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Libya: Relaxed Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Tells of Injury by 'Nato Infidels'
Following his capture by Libyan forces Saif al-Islam, son of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, gives a short interview telling how he was injured in a Nato - "infidel" - airstrike.

Read article here | Monday, November 21, 2011

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi 'Pretended to Be a Camel Herder' When Captured

THE GUARDIAN: Captor says dictator's son, who was caught trying to flee to Niger, tried to disguise himself to evade arrest

The man who led the fighters that captured Saif al-Islam has said that the late dictator's son tried to escape arrest by pretending to be a camel herder.

"When we caught him, he said, 'My name is Abdul Salem, a camel keeper,'" said commander Ahmed Amur on Sunday. "It was crazy."

His unit, from Zintan's Abu Bakar al-Sadiq brigade, had been patrolling the vast southern desert of Libya for more than a month when it was given a tip-off late last week that Saif al-Islam was close to the town of Obari.

"We knew it was a VIP target, we did not know who," said Amur, who worked as a professor of marine biology in Tripoli before the war. » | Chris Stephen in Zintan | Sunday, November 20, 2011

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