Libyan court sentences Gaddafi’s son Saif to death
Eight others guilty of atrocities against protesters in 2011 uprising • Rulings may be appealed, must be confirmed by top court • Benghazi suicide bomber kills three Libyan soldiers, wounds 11
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – A Libyan court on Tuesday sentenced Muammar Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, and eight others to death for war crimes, including the murder of protesters during the 2011 revolution that ended Gaddafi’s rule.
The former Gaddafi regime officials sentenced to die by firing squad include former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and ex-prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, Sadiq al-Sur, chief investigator at the Tripoli state prosecutor’s office, told a televised news conference.
The trial outcome drew swift criticism abroad, with Human Rights Watch and a prominent international lawyer saying it was riddled with legal flaws and carried out amid widespread lawlessness, undermining the credibility of the judiciary.
Eight ex-officials received life sentences and seven received jail terms of 12 years each, Sadiq said. Four of the 37 defendants were acquitted, others got shorter jail terms.
Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels who captured him after months on the run.
Sadiq did not spell out the charges on which the verdicts were based. Defendants were accused of a range of offenses, including the use of deadly force against unarmed demonstrators, as well as corruption.
The verdict on Saif al-Islam was passed in absentia in Tripoli, since he has been held since 2011 by a former rebel group in the mountainous Zintan region beyond central government control. Factional disorder and conflict now plagues Libya.
Saif appeared by video link at the start of the trial. The Zintanis have refused to hand him over, saying they do not trust authorities in Tripoli to make sure he does not escape, but agreed to let him be tried there.
The sentences can be appealed and must be confirmed by Libya’s Supreme Court, but legal experts and rights advocates said the proceeding was tainted and politicized from the start.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said defense lawyers lacked full and timely access to case files and several had been unable to meet with clients in private, while two quit after receiving threats.
“There are serious questions about whether judges and prosecutors can be truly independent where utter lawlessness prevails and certain groups are unashamedly shielded from justice,” Joe Stork, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said in an emailed statement.
“This trial was held in the midst of an armed conflict and a country divided by war, where impunity has become the norm... The victims of the serious crimes committed during the 2011 uprising deserve justice, but that can only be delivered through fair and transparent proceedings,” Stork said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) wanted to try Saif al-Islam and Senussi in The Hague, but in 2013 granted Libya the right to do so at home, despite doubts about the impartiality and competence of its judicial system.
John Jones, a British lawyer hired to represent Saif al-Islam before the ICC, said a “show trial” led to the death sentences. “The whole thing is illegitimate from start to finish... It’s judicially sanctioned execution,” Jones said.
The ICC does not allow the death penalty.
The trial began in April 2014 before fighting between rival factions in Tripoli ripped Libya apart in a power struggle which has produced two governments competing for authority.
Tripoli is now controlled by a self-declared government, set up after an armed faction called Libya Dawn seized the capital in August, expelling the internationally recognized government, that then decamped to far eastern Libya.
Fighting involving remnants of the armed forces, ex-rebel groups, regional tribes, and Islamist terrorists has sewn chaos in the North African oil-producing country, thwarting any post-Gaddafi transition toward democracy.
On Tuesday a suicide bomber rammed a car loaded with explosives into a group of Libyan soldiers in central Benghazi, killing three and wounding 11 of them, a medic and a military source said.
Suicide bombings have become frequent in the eastern port city, where forces loyal to the country’s internationally recognized government have been clashing with Islamist fighters, part of chaos gripping the oil producer.
The car targeted a group of soldiers during a street battle close to the city’s port and naval base, where pro-government forces and Islamist brigades clash almost daily.
Army forces backed by armed residents have regained some areas in Benghazi lost to the Islamist brigades last year, but critics say their use of war planes has turned parts of the city into rubble without gaining much on the ground.
The Benghazi fighting highlights the chaos in Libya, where two rival governments are vying for control. The official prime minister has been based in the east since the capital Tripoli was seized by a rival group that set up its own government.
Both sides command loose coalitions of former anti-Gaddafi rebels who, after the strongman’s ouster in 2011, split into factions along political, regional and tribal lines.
Islamic State has exploited the chaos by launching suicide bombings, executing foreigners and staging attacks against embassies in Tripoli.