While the International Criminal Court wants Libya to hand over Muammar Qaddafi’s son for trial, Tripoli remains unable to prize him out of the hands of the militia fighters who caught him last year. That’s an obstacle the government is trying to overcome as it works to show that the country can give Seif Al-Islam Qaddafi a trial that meets international standards, the man overseeing the case for the Libyan authorities said on Apr 11. Libya’s government wants to transfer Seif Al-Islam to the capital and put him on trial there rather than transfer him to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Ahmed Al-Jehani, the Libyan lawyer in charge of the Seif Al-Islam case and who liaises between the Libyan government and the ICC, said that the Zintan fighters who captured and hold Seif Al-Islam in a secret prison in Zintan want him tried locally. He said the Libyan government was trying to reason with the fighters by reminding them that they would be doing a disservice to Libya if they didn’t hand Seif Al-Islam over.