Gaddafi son ‘attacked’ in Libya detention
‘He has been kept in isolation for 139 days’:
Netherlands: Seif al-Islam, son of slain Libyan leader Moamer
Gaddafi, has been attacked in detention in Libya, a lawyer from the
International Criminal Court said Thursday, accusing authorities of
denying him basic rights.
ICC defence official Xavier-Jean Keita said local officials have
failed to get Seif needed dental treatment, denied him visits with
family and friends and kept him in isolation for 139 days except for
contact with authorities and prosecutors.
“Seif. Gaddafi has been physically attacked,” Keita told AFP, without
giving details on the attack or saying when it took place.
“He also suffers pain due to the absence of dental treatment. The
Libyan authorities have failed to take any steps to remedy this pain,”
he added.
The ICC wants to bring Seif to The Hague to face charges of crimes
against humanity for his role in battling the uprising against his
father last year, but Libya's new government wants to try him at home.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Seif, 39, on June 27. He was
arrested on November 19 in southern Libya and is being held in Zintan,
180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Tripoli.
Keita, who is from the ICC's Office of Public Counsel for the Defence
(OPCD) and is acting as Seif's primary counsel, said he has only been
allowed one brief visit with his client.
“The right to effective representation cannot be secured in a setting
in which the OPCD has no ability to conduct privileged communications
with Mr. Kadhafi on an ongoing basis, or to transmit privileged
documents to him,” he said.
He added that local officials had interrogated Seif with no lawyer
present and lied about their investigation against him, saying he was
being probed for failure to obtain a camel licence and irregularities
related to fish farms, rather than more serious crimes such as rape and
murder.
The statements come a day after ICC judges issued a ruling demanding
Libya immediately hand over Seif.
It was the second time judges asked Tripoli to hand him over, after
last month rejecting an initial Libyan request for a postponement.
Keita said Libyan authorities have never given a legal justification
for their failure to hand over Seif.
“He has been kept in a legal black hole,” he said.
Rights group Amnesty International backed the ICC's request Thursday.
“An unfair trial before a Libyan court where the accused could face
the death penalty is no way to guarantee justice and accountability,”
Marek Marczynski, head of Amnesty's international justice team, said in
a statement.
Also Thursday, the global police agency Interpol issued alerts
seeking the arrest of two senior officials in Moamer Kadhafi's ousted
regime on suspicion of torture and kidnapping.
A statement from the France-based body said Libya had requested
assistance in detaining two officials identified as former interior
minister Al-Senussi Alozyre, 63, and his former deputy Naser al-Mabruk,
60, accused of offences including illegal arrests and torture. Several
other Libyan officials are subject to Interpol “Red Notice” arrest
requests, including the dictator's surviving sons and his former
intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, who is being held in Mauritania.
AFP |