Tripoli court sentences Gaddafi’s son to death

Moammar Gadhafi’s son and onetime heir apparent was convicted and sentenced to death by a court in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on charges of murder and inciting genocide during the country’s 2011 uprising.

“A spokesman for Tripoli’s self-declared government said Saif Al-Islam Gadhafi is one of nine former regime figures who were sentenced to death today”.

His father, Muammar, ruled Libya for over four decades before he was overthrown and killed during the Western government-led bombing campaign following the Arab Spring in 2011.

Al-Islam is now being held by a former rebel group in Zintan, a town in Libya, and was not permitted to leave to attend the trial, which took place in Tripoli.

The trial, which opened in the Libyan capital in April last year, has been dogged by criticism from human rights watchdogs and an unresolved dispute with the worldwide Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague over jurisdiction in the case of the former dictator’s son.

Dressed in blue prison uniforms and seated in a black cage, 29 of the defendants including Senussi and Mahmoudi were present for Tuesday’s verdict.

Saif al-Islam, who is being held by a former rebel group, was not in court when the verdict was given. “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.

Saif al-Islam, along with eight others, will be given the right to appeal, according to the BBC.

The most powerful adviser and presumed successor to his father before the uprising, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi was widely viewed in the West as a reformer who was gradually opening up Libya’s economy and softening its dictatorship.

Blair had helped Saif with his philosophy PhD thesis during his controversial student days at the London School of Economics – an institution, which had accepted hundreds of thousands in “donations” from Saif’s charitable foundation and the Gaddafi clan.

The trial was “marred with serious flaws that highlight Libya’s inability to administer justice effectively in line with global fair trial standards”, Amnesty worldwide said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. In addition to mass killings, the charges included rape, breach of trust and corruption, the agency reported.

In addition, many armed groups are battling for power in a lawless milieu that has allowed human traffickers and smugglers to flourish.

Eight defendants were sentenced to life in prison, seven to 12 years, four to 10, three to six and one to five.