Libya to defy Hague and try Gaddafi’s son at home

LIBYA’S new leaders have said they will try Muammar Gaddafi’s son at home and not hand him over to the International Criminal Court, where he is charged with crimes against humanity.

The government also announced the capture of the toppled regime’s intelligence minister, who is also wanted by the court.

In one of several emerging complications, however, the former rebel faction that captured Saif al-Islam Gaddafi a day earlier is refusing to deliver him to national authorities in Tripoli, raising concern over whether he will get a proper trial and demonstrating the interim leaders’ weak hold over their fractured nation.

In the capital, information minister Mahmoud Shammam said his predecessor Abdullah al-Senoussi was captured by revolutionary fighters from a southern region called Fazan, not far from where Gaddafi’s son was seized on Saturday while trying to flee to neighbouring Niger.

Fighters tracking al-Senoussi for two days caught up with him at his sister’s house in Deerat al-Shati, said Abdullah al-Sughayer, a fighter. There were few other details on his capture, and it was not clear whether his captors would also resist turning him over to Tripoli.

Though they are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Libya will likely seek to try both men at home.

Speaking prior to al-Senoussi’s capture, the information minister said Saif al-Islam must be tried in Libya, even though the new leaders have yet to establish a court system.

“It is only fair for the Libyan people that he is tried here. Saif al-Islam committed crimes against the Libyan people,” he told The Associated Press.