Gaddafi daughter seeks ICC probe into his killing

[Ban Hammer 13,508]

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A lawyer for Muammar Gaddafi's daughter said on Wednesday he had written to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ask if an investigation had been launched into the killing of her father and brother.

A copy of the letter, seen by Reuters, said that Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim were "murdered in the most horrific fashion with their bodies thereafter displayed and grotesquely abused in complete defiance of Islamic law".

"The images of this savagery were broadcast throughout the world, causing my client severe emotional distress," said the letter from Nick Kaufman, who represents Aisha Gaddafi.

"To date, neither Ms. Gaddafi nor any member of her family has been informed, by your office, of the initiation of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the brutal murders," the letter said.

Muammar Gaddafi and Mo'tassim were captured in their home town of Sirte in October, two months after rebels seized the capital Tripoli and put the longtime Libyan leader and his relatives to flight.

They were killed soon after their capture while in the custody of fighters loyal to the country's new leadership, in circumstances that have not been fully explained.

Gaddafi's daughter Aisha fled with other family members to neighbouring Algeria in August.

The ICC, based in the Hague, earlier this year issued arrest warrants for Muammar Gaddafi, another son, Saif al-Islam, and the former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, for crimes against humanity.

In the letter, Aisha Gaddafi's lawyer asked if the ICC prosecutor's office was investigating the killings of her father and brother, and if it was taking steps to make sure the Libyan authorities themselves were investigating the matter.

The letter also asked whether the ICC was looking into what reports said at the time was a NATO air strike on Gaddafi's convoy moments before he was captured.

"Is your office investigating the attack allegedly carried out by NATO forces in order to determine whether individual criminal responsibility should be assigned for an unlawful military attack?" the letter asked.

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[ready4ONE 5,400]

I think the answer is "no" on investigating the attack by NATO and "cry me a river" on the circumstances of the mob killing and brutalizing the bodies.

[Ban Hammer 13,508]

I think the answer is "no" on investigating the attack by NATO and "cry me a river" on the circumstances of the mob killing and brutalizing the bodies.

don't bet the farm just yet!

ICC prosecutor: Gadhafi’s death may be war crime

The murky circumstances surrounding Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's death in October may amount to a war crime, the top international war crimes prosecutor said Thursday.

"I think the way in which Mr. Gadhafi was killed creates suspicions of ... war crimes," the International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters Thursday, Reuters reported..

"I think that's a very important issue," he continued. "We are raising this concern to the national authorities and they are preparing a plan to have a comprehensive strategy to investigate all these crimes."

The announcement marked a stark turnaround in Moreno-Ocampo's formerly close relations with Libya's interim rulers, the National Transition Council. Moreno-Ocampo had previously stated as fact anti-Gadhafi forces's claims to have captured Gadhafi's son and former heir-apparent Saif al-Islam Gadhafi back in August. Saif later convincingly disproved those claims by appearing at the Tripoli hotel where most foreign journalists were working--thereby forcing the ICC prosecutor to acknowledge that his confirmation of Saif's capture had been based on rebels' mistaken claims.

Saif al-Islam was later captured alive by anti-Gadhafi forces last month in Libya's southern desert en route to Niger, where one of his brothers has taken refuge. Other Gadhafi children have decamped for Algeria.

Libya's interim rulers have resisted pressure to extradite Saif al-Islam to the Hague to stand trial on war crimes charges, saying they prefer to conduct the trial at home in Libya.

The international war crimes court issued arrest warrants in March for Moammar Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam and Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity.

The National Transition Council said in October that it would investigate the circumstances under which Moammar Gadhafi and his son Mo'tassim died after their initial capture near Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte in October. But no findings from that inquiry have yet surfaced.

"Mobile phone footage showed both alive after their capture," the Reuters report said. "The former Libyan leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died, in what NTC officials said was crossfire."

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