International lawyers for Seif el Islam Gadaffi son of the late dictator Moammar el Gadaffi have made a U-turn in their defence strategy at the International Criminal Court and will ask judges to declare the case inadmissible...
International lawyers for Seif el Islam Gadaffi son of the late dictator Moammar el Gadaffi have made a U-turn in their defence strategy at the International Criminal Court and will ask judges to declare the case inadmissible...
Meanwhile the Court of Assizes in Tripoli put Seif el Islam on trial and on 28 July last year sentenced him to death by firing squad along with 32 others including El Senussi and ex-Prime Minister El Baghdadi Ali el Mahmoudi...
Seif el Islam gave evidence by video link from Zintan...
Seif el Islam's Court-appointed lawyer in the Netherlands had previously insisted that he be tried by the ICC because he could not receive a fair trial in Libya and because the death penalty applies there...
A new international legal team which Seif el Islam appointed several months ago argues that he should not be tried by the ICC since a trial has already taken place and to hold another would violate the principle of double jeopardy...
After the Court's summer recess the lawyers plan to file a motion challenging the admissibility of the case against Seif el Islam based on the prohibition of double jeopardy...
By invoking double jeopardy Seif el Islam is in effect accepting the trial in Libya and the verdict...
AmnestyThe new strategy is motivated by the possibility of Seif el Islam applying for release under the amnesty law passed by the House of Representatives (HoR) Libya's internationally recognised Parliament in Tobruk last July...
He quoted the then Justice Minister in the Tobruk government of Abdullah el Thani the late El Mabrouk Graira as saying that Seif el Islam could be granted amnesty...
Although its authenticity has been questioned a Ministry Spokesperson told the Middle East Monitor website that the law could apply to Seif el Islam's case...
If Seif el Islam did benefit from the amnesty there is no guarantee that the ICC would lose interest...
Seif el Islam would have to wait for the ICC to formally close the case against him before he could apply for amnesty at home if he did not want to be tried by the ICC...