Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was captured disguised as a Bedouin in the Sahara desert in November, has also been indicted by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity stemming from Libya’s civil war last year.

On Tuesday, Aisha Gaddafi had asked the court if she could give information about attempts she has made to contact Saif al-Islam, and submitted a document suggesting the Libyan authorities were unwilling to let any foreign lawyer act for him.

The court said on Thursday that it had rejected both Aisha’s request and a similar one by human rights activist Mishana Hosseinioun. Both requests were “misplaced and contrary” to court procedures, a panel of judges said ruled.

Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council says Saif al-Islam should be tried at home and would be given a fair hearing. The ICC has reserved the right to insist that he be sent to The Hague.

Saif al-Islam’s supporters say they doubt he will be given a fair trial in Libya and that he should be tried instead by the ICC in The Hague.

He faces the death penalty if found guilty by a Libyan court, but only a prison term if convicted by the ICC.

The ICC has jurisdiction over the case because it issued a warrant last year for the arrest of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, and the Libyan leader’s intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi.

Reuters.

Toujours en exil en Algérie, Aïcha Kaddafi a demandé à la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) la permission, « à titre exceptionnel », de transmettre des informations afin de « protéger les intérêts de son frère » Seif el-Islam, dont on ne sait toujours pas s’il sera jugé par les autorités libyennes ou par la CPI. Une demande faite en tant qu’ « amicus curiae » (ami de la cour, NDLR), selon un document rédigé par son avocat Nick Kaufman et transmis à la CPI, qui l’a ensuite rendu public mardi 31 janvier.

La fille du défunt Mouammar Kaddafi estime que « ces informations (…) aideront la chambre préliminaire à déterminer la marche à suivre appropriée » et à « déterminer si les autorités libyennes désirent vraiment fournir à Seif el-Islam une représentation légale efficace ou lui accorder un procès équitable », indique ce document.

“La primauté est au système national”

Toujours détenu en Libye dans une résidence surveillée de la ville de Zintan, Seif al-Islam est soupçonné par la CPI de crimes contre l’humanité commis depuis le 15 février 2011 au moment de la répression de la révolte populaire en Libye. Les autorités libyennes ont affirmé leur intention de le juger sur leur territoire, dans une lettre publiée le 24 novembre 2011. « La primauté est au système national. S’ils (les Libyens, NDLR) veulent (juger Seif el-Islam, NDLR), nous ne sommes pas en compétition avec eux. Nous le ferons quand ils ne sont pas en mesure de le faire », a déclaré le procureur de la CPI Luis Moreno-Ocampo à Tripoli, mercredi 23 novembre 2011.

La cour avait ensuite démenti, le 23 janvier, avoir pris une décision sur l’organisation d’un procès de Seif al-Islam Kaddafi en Libye devant un tribunal libyen, contrairement à ce qu’avait annoncé le ministre libyen de la Justice.

Jeune Afrique.
(Avec AFP)

D’abord, il y eut les manifestations anti-CNT à Benghazi , berceau de la révolution, puis l’attaque dans la même ville du bâtiment où se trouvaient les membres du Conseil pour discuter de cette loi. Ces incidents ont précipité la démission du numéro deux du CNT, Abdelhafidh Ghoga.

Pour répondre aux exigences des manifestants, le texte annonce que seront exclues les personnes accusées d’avoir participé à la répression de la révolte de 2010. Dans la nouvelle mouture, un article a été abandonné, celui interdisant à un Libyen ayant la double nationalité de se présenter à l’élection.

Selon le texte du CNT, sur les 200 sièges de la future Assemblée, deux tiers seront réservés aux listes des partis politiques en attendant une loi sur les partis, le dernier tiers aux indépendants.

Enfin, prudent, le CNT précise que la porte reste ouverte et que le texte peut encore être révisé.

RFI.

“It is our right to reenter Bani Walid and nobody can prevent us,” Imbarak al-Futmani said in an interview with Reuters at his desert camp near Sadada, 30 miles (50 km) east of Bani Walid.

Futmani’s troops were pushed out by angry townsmen who he accuses of being the remnants of loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi, the former dictator who was overthrown then captured and killed in October.

Eight hundred of his men were now massed along the eastern flank of the town awaiting his orders to enter by force, said the elderly warrior, who was dressed in an ornate black and gold waistcoast, a skullcap and a white blanket over his shoulder.

Bani Walid, 90 miles (140 km) south of Tripoli, was one of the last towns to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year.

Hundreds of fighters loyal to the interim government have surrounded the isolated town after hearing word that a pro-Gaddafi uprising had broken out.

Futmani said he faced a couple of hundred “criminals” nostalgic for Gaddafi’s time in power, rather than large battalions of organised loyalists.

“We have all the revolutionary fighters with us and we can take Bani Walid in a matter of hours.”

“If they don’t hand themselves in, they will face what they cannot imagine,” he added, his eyes hidden by thick-rimmed, amber Ray-Ban sunglasses.

GADDAFI SUPPORT ALLEGATIONS

On Monday, armed residents surrounded Futmani’s brigade, who named themselves the “28th of May,” after the date last year when Gaddafi loyalists executed a number of pro-democracy protesters in Bani Walid.

After a battle in which Futmani lost six fighters, his men fled the barracks in the dark of the night.

“Once the Gaddafis broke through the gate and entered the barracks, all they cared about was stealing our tanks. We just walked right out,” said one of Futmani’s men.

Echoing complaints by residents that the 28th of May Brigade had been harassing people and abusing prisoners, the town elders said they were dismissing the government-backed local council on which Futmani sits and appointing their own local government.

They said they were not Gaddafi supporters but just tired of the militia pushing its weight around their town.

Futmani says the elders profited from Gaddafi and were trying to reclaim their town from its rightful rulers, the western-backed National Transitional Council (NTC) government.

WAITING ON THE PRIME MINISTER

With hundreds of fighters waiting at the gates of Bani Walid, drinking tea and oiling their weapons in the cold desert, why have they have not pushed forward?

Sitting in his base, a former Gaddafi holiday mansion on the top of a rocky hill, Futmani said the prime minister had asked him to hold off to allow civilians to leave the town and, hopefully, for the assailants to surrender.

“The prime minister called me and asked me not to move and I accepted,” he said.

“(Prime minister Abdel Rahim) El Keib promised that the government would use force to maintain security, if necessary.”

Troops from the nascent National Army, composed of revolutionary fighters who have signed up to the government force, had joined the militias around Bani Walid.

The NTC has been unable to fully establish control over armed revolutionary groups in Libya and has only incorporated a few brigades into a national security force. All of the militias claim loyalty to the government but most are still unwilling to disarm. Instead, they adopt a wait-and-see approach to who comes to power, and if they like them.

Futmani’s men cruise around the base in dirty pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on the back.

He is sceptical of any peaceful solution and saw more violence ahead.

“These pro-Gaddafis, they see us a rats, like Gaddafi did,” he said. “They are murderers and criminals, they will never intergrate into the new Libya because they know they will face justice now.”

Reuters.

Lors de cette réunion, la loi électorale qui doit engager le processus pour l’élection de l’Assemblée constituante devait être adopté. Sur ce point, le CNT est aussi en difficulté. La direction a annoncé que l’adoption du texte était repoussée. Officiellement pour des raisons techniques : certains articles ne sont pas encore validés.Mais ce report est sans doute lié aux manifestations actuelles à Benghazi.

Rassemblements qui ont entraîné la démission à la mi-journée du vice-président du Conseil, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga. L’ex-numéro deux a été poussé vers la sortie par des jeunes qui l’accusent « d’être un opportuniste et d’avoir fait parti du régime Kadhafi ».

Ces événements n’ont pas calmé les manifestants. Quatre mille étudiants se sont réunis dans le centre de Benghazi pour exiger la libération de 11 de leurs camarades arrêtés ces derniers jours.

Le président du CNT Moustapha Abdeljalil, qui dénonce « un mouvement qui peut entrainer le pays dans un puits sans fond », est en tout cas de plus en plus contesté.

Patrick Hemzadeh, ancien diplomate français en poste à Tripoli, interrogé par RFI, déplore cette situation.

RFI.

Assembled by Islamist political and religious groups, mostly young and bearded men holding up copies of the Koran demonstrated in squares in the capital Tripoli, the eastern city of Benghazi and in Sabha in the southern desert.

In Tripoli’s Algeria Square, Islamists burned copies of the “Green Book,” Gaddafi’s eccentric handbook on politics, economics and everyday life, to underline that the Koran should be the country’s main source of legislation.

By contrast, a group of secularists who have staged a sit-in in the square for more than a month chanted: “We want a civil state.”

The Islamist demonstrators encompassed members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood and harder-line Salafis, who both back strict versions of Islam, and relative moderates who prefer a civil state simply inspired by sharia.

The protests offered a glimpse into Libya’s political future in which Islamist and secularist parties are expected to vie for seats in a national assembly scheduled to be elected in June to draft a constitution for the North African country.

Experts believe the Muslim Brotherhood is the most organised political force and could emerge as the leading political player in Libya after Gaddafi, who harshly suppressed Islamists during his 42 years in autocratic power.

Western powers are coming to accept that the advent of democracy in the Arab world means bringing Islamists to power. They have become the biggest election winners in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco over the past few months.

The chairman of Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdul Jalil, promised in October to uphold Islamic law. “We as a Muslim nation have taken Islamic sharia as the source of legislation, therefore any law that contradicts the principles of Islam is legally nullified,” he said.

The deputy central bank governor said last month a law regulating Islamic banking would be issued in the first quarter of 2012, but stressed that both conventional and Islamic banks would be allowed to operate in Libya.

Islamists in Algeria Square held up placards demanding a financial system respecting Islam’s ban on interest and calling for a constitution derived from sharia’s legal and moral codes.

“We want to run our life according to Islamic principles, be it the economy, politics or our relations with other countries,” said Abdul Basit Ghuwaila, a preacher at a Tripoli mosque. “Most people think Islam is just about harsh penalties.”

Ghuwaila, 49, said sharia should not govern all Libyan law, but insisted that legislation should not contradict it.

Nour al-Zintani, a participant in the month-long sit-in for a secular state, said the majority of Libyans wanted Islam to be a part of their life but not a strict interpretation of it.

“We all want sharia,” she said, standing next to her teenage daughter, both of them wearing a Muslim headscarf, “but not the one they’re talking about, the one that rejects women. We want a moderate Islam that gives women their rights.”

Reuters.

Première visite en « Libye libre » pour le président de la Commission de l’Union africaine (UA). Jean Ping est arrivé lundi 16 janvier 2012 à Tripoli, où il s’est entretenu, dès son arrivée, avec le ministre libyen des Affaires étrangères Achour Ben Khayal.

Les deux hommes ont évoqué divers sujets, comme l’aide de l’Union africaine à la Libye. L’organisation panafricaine entend contribuer au rétablissement de la sécurité et à la reconstruction du pays, a indiqué l’agence officielle Lana. L’amélioration des relations entre la Libye et ses voisins et le prochain sommet de l’Union africaine étaient également à l’ordre du jour.

Visite symbolique

Seconde étape pour le président de la Commission de l’UA, rencontrer le Premier ministre Abderrahim el Kib.

Cette visite, qui intervient alors que Jean Ping mène campagne pour obtenir un second mandat à la tête de l’UA, revêt un aspect symbolique après les flottements diplomatiques de l’Union africaine lors de la révolution libyenne. Jusqu’au mois de septembre 2011, l’Union africaine a toujours refusé de reconnaître le Conseil national de transition libyen, organe politique de la rébellion contre Mouammar Kaddafi, comme représentant légitime du peuple.

L’organisation panafricaine a mené de nombreuses et vaines tentatives de médiation entre Mouammar Kaddafi et la rébellion, avant de finalement reconnaître le CNT. L’ancien « Guide » libyen avait largement participé à la naissance de l’UA, lui qui espérait créer puis diriger les États-Unis d’Afrique.

Jeune Afrique
(Avec AFP)

The Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam after prosecutors accused him and others of involvement in the killing of protesters during the revolt that eventually toppled Muammar Gaddafi in August.

Minister of Justice Ali Humaida Ashour told Reuters the ICC had accepted in principle a request by Libyan authorities to try Saif al-Islam and would make a final decision within weeks.

“We expect the court (ICC) will accept that Saif is tried in Libya,” he told Reuters in an interview in the Libyan capital.

“The Libyan judiciary is the one that has the jurisdiction to try Saif al-Islam Gaddafi because the Libyan judiciary is the base and the ICC complements it.”

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said in November that he was happy for Libya to hold the trial, even though he had no guarantee that it would be fair.

But the decision rests with ICC judges who, shortly after Moreno-Ocampo’s comments, said that if Libya wished to try Saif al-Islam, it must submit a formal challenge to the ICC and answer questions about his arrest and conditions of detention.

On Tuesday the ICC said it would give Libya until January 23 to provide its answers, including information about his mental and physical health. On Thursday, after Ashour’s comments, it said there was no change in its stance.

CHARGES

Ashour said Saif al-Islam would be tried on charges of mismanagement of public funds, homicide and rape, adding that if convicted of homicide, he could face the death penalty.

When asked to comment on an appeal by Human Rights Watch to the Libyan authorities last month to allow Saif al-Islam to have immediate access to a lawyer, he said: “Any defendant has the right to have a lawyer during interrogation.”

“International and legal standards will be taken into account and the trial will be held according to Libyan law,” he said, adding that Saif would be allowed to hire a lawyer of his choice.

He said the trial, which is expected to be mostly open to the public, would be conducted by an ordinary Libyan court, not a special tribunal.

He added: “A courtroom will be set up for the trial that will accommodate the international organisations and the media.”

Asked about the timing, he said the trial would take place after the interrogation was completed and evidence collected.

Saif al-Islam was captured by a powerful militia from Zintan that still holds him in an undisclosed location, but Ashour said that he was under the control of the public prosecutor.

Libya is still largely controlled by dozens of militias that have carved up the country into rival fiefdoms, with many showing little interest in giving up their weapons and joining the military or police, or in taking up civilian jobs.

The chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said this month his government was facing difficulties reinstating Libya’s judiciary system due to a lack of security.

“If there’s no security, there will be no law, no development and no elections,” he told a gathering on January 3. “People are taking the law into their own hands.”

Ashour said the interior minister had assured him that the security forces were able to protect the courts and prisons.

Reuters.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on genocide charges, arrived in Libya on Saturday.

Asked on Sunday if he was worried he might be arrested and handed over to the ICC, he answered: “By God, No.”

“Not in Libya, I am ready to move around Libya without security guards.”

During the visit, Bashir has stressed the need to protect Libya’s southern borders, which he said former dictator Muammar Gaddafi used to smuggle weapons to rebels in Sudan.

“We don’t want borders for exchanging weapons, rebels and mercenaries,” Bashir told a gathering of Sudanese nationals and Libyan officials in the eastern city of Benghazi.

He said Sudan supported diplomatic efforts between Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) and the North African country’s neighbours, including Chad, Niger and Mali, to secure borders.

“We want to support these contacts so we can turn Libya’s borders with the rest of region’s states into a venue for trade and the movement of citizens,” he said.

NTC Vice Chairman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga confirmed the government was holding discussions on the issue with Sudan and other nations.

“We are working hard on protecting our borders with our neighbours,” he said.

Relations between Khartoum and Tripoli were strained during Gaddafi’s rule because of the dictator’s support for rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region and in South Sudan, which gained independence in July under a 2005 peace deal.

Bashir said Sam-7 anti-aircraft missiles had been smuggled to the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement during Libya’s nine-month civil war. He said the missiles posed no danger as they had been stored without proper maintenance.

Bashir said on Saturday he had offered the new Libyan government help from Sudanese troops in protecting Libya’s southern borders during the war that ousted Gaddafi, but that his offer had been declined.

Liby and and U.S. officials have said they want to prevent militants from acquiring weapons, especially thousands of anti-aircraft launchers, from Gaddafi’s huge arsenals.

Reuters.