Libya Court Sentences Gadhafi Son To Death For 2011 Killings

Libya’s internationally recognized House of Representatives (parliament) on Tuesday unanimously approved a law of general amnesty, hours after a court in the capital of Tripoli issued death sentences on Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The court also condemned eight other Qaddafi associates, including his former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi and ex-prime minister Mahmoudi al Baghdadi, Reuters reports.

In London, al-Senoussi’s wife, Fatma Farkash, asserted that the Tripoli court didn’t have the authority to hand down the death sentence.

Muammar Gaddafi was butchered by a mob during the 2011 revolution that overthrew his tyrannical rule in Libya.

He has been ordered to face a firing squad for his role in trying to quash the 2011 revolution that led to his father’s ouster.

The 37 defendants were charged with crimes including murder and complicity in incitement to rape during the 2011 uprising that toppled the dictatorship.

Salah al-Bakkoush, a Tripoli-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera that he did not expect the rulings to have strong resonance in Libya.

October 9, 2012 – The Libyan government argues that it should not have to hand over Saif al-Islam Gadhafi to the worldwide Criminal Court because the court in The Hague, Netherlands, does not have jurisdiction in the case.

The trial’s sentences drew widespread criticism from overseas, with a prominent lawyer and Human Rights Watch saying the trial had been laced with legal flaws and held amidst widespread lawlessness that undermined the judiciary credibility.

He appeared by video link only at the start of the trial.

By the last years of the Gaddafi regime Saif al-Islam was deeply loathed in Libya, even while politicians in Britain, France and Italy were behaving as though he was a close friend.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, speaks to the media at a press conference in a hotel in Tripoli, Libya.

Gadhafi ruled the North African nation of 6 million people for 42 years but was ousted from power in August 2011 during the “Arab Spring” movement.

The country is split between two rival governments.

The sentence was handed down in absentia as the younger Gaddafi is being held by a rebel group who are opposed to the Tripoli authorities in the south-western town of Zintan, according to CNN.