Saif al-Islam Gaddafi can face trial in Libya - ICC

New video has emerged showing Saif al-Islam after his weekend capture

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has accepted that Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam will be tried in Libya, not The Hague.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam on war crimes charges because Libya's justice system was not up to it.
He said this was no longer the case, but that the ICC would help.
The visit comes as a new cabinet is expected to be announced.
It will be the first step to forming an elected government. Libya's transitional authority is tasked with drafting a constitution and holding democratic elections.
Prime minister-designate Abdurrahim al-Keib said all of Libya's regions would be represented.
Mr Keib was elected prime minister by the National Transitional Council (NTC) last month.
The NTC is a coalition of rival factions that came together to oust Col Gaddafi, who was killed in his birthplace, Sirte, on 20 October.
Feared figure

Their arrest is a crucial step in bringing to justice those most responsible for crimes committed in Libya”

Luis Moreno-Ocampo ICC prosecutor

Since Saif al-Islam was arrested on Saturday, Libya's new government has insisted that he would face a fair trial locally.

As Mr Moreno-Ocampo arrived, Libya's Justice Minister Mohammed al-Allagui said: "In a nutshell, we are not going to hand him over," reported the AFP news agency.
"In May, we requested a warrant because Libyans couldn't do justice in Libya," the ICC chief prosecutor said.
"Now, as soon as Libyans decide to do justice they could do justice and we'll help them to do it."
The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Col Gaddafi's spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, who was regarded as the late leader's right-hand man - and one of the regime's most-feared figures.
Libya's government says Mr Sanussi, a brother-in-law of Col Gaddafi, was arrested at his sister's home in the southern town of Sabha on Sunday.
Saif al-Islam had been on the run since NTC forces took Tripoli in August, six months into the uprising.
Mr Keib has promised that Saif al-Islam will receive a fair trial after concerns were raised about the possibility of ill-treatment given the killing of Col Gaddafi after his capture in Sirte.
'Competence' On Monday, Mr Keib said he was finalising his cabinet with the NTC and expected to announce the line-up on Tuesday.

Prime Minister-designate Abdurrahim al-Keib has spent much of his career in the US as an academic

"We will use competence as a basic measure and this way we will be able to include all of Libya's regions," he told a news conference.
An NTC source quoted by Reuters news agency said the local military commander in the western town of Zintan, Osama al-Juwali, had been designated defence minister.
Libya's deputy UN ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi had been named foreign minister, interim oil minister Ali Tarhouni was moved to finance and oil industry executive Hassan Ziglam was taking over the oil ministry, Reuters said, but those names have not been confirmed.
The BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli, says the first test of the new government will be to successfully centralise Libya's political and military powers.
Only then will the government be able to proceed with drafting a constitution and eventually hold Libya's first democratic elections in its modern history, our correspondent says.
Col Gaddafi was overthrown and his supporters defeated after a nine-month insurgency that began in the eastern town of Benghazi and eventually swept across the rest of the country.
Militias in different areas, joined by defectors from the army, were aided by Nato forces who bombed Col Gaddafi's forces under a UN mandate to protect civilians.

New clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square

Protesters speak of their demands for the Mubarak regime to face trial on time

Clashes have again erupted in the Egyptian capital as security forces continue their efforts to clear Cairo's Tahrir Square of protesters.

Protesters fear the interim military government is trying to retain its grip on power ahead of parliamentary elections planned to begin next week.
One minister has resigned in protest at the handling of the latest unrest.
At least 20 people are reported to have died since the violence began on Saturday with hundreds more injured.
Earlier reports said 33 people had died, but mortuary officials later corrected the figure, saying some of the deaths had not been related to the protests.
Some 1,750 people have also been reported injured in clashes across the country.
Culture Minister Emad Abu Ghazi has resigned and 25 Egyptian political parties also called for the ministers of information and the interior to be sacked over the violence.
A group of senior Egyptian diplomats have also issued a statement condemning the way the protests have been handled.

This is an enormous challenge for those who rule Egypt. Can they let the protesters stay in Tahrir Square indefinitely, can they really keep control of the situation, or do they risk even more damage to their reputation with the violence in the square?
I think deaths of the protesters this weekend, above all, is what is going to antagonise the people.
A lot of people were frustrated by the slow pace of change and the way the military were trying to entrench their powers, as the opposition certainly saw it.
But, as happened at the beginning of the protests against Hosni Mubarak's rule earlier this year, it was the deaths above all that really brought the people out on the streets.

The statement, signed by more than 109 ambassadors and other diplomats, calls for violence and aggression by the security forces against protesters to be halted immediately, and for those responsible to be brought to justice.

The statement says a full hand-over of power to a civilian government should be completed by the middle of next year.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, led by Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, is charged with overseeing the country's transition to democracy after three decades of autocratic rule under ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Calls for Field Marshal Tantawi's resignation could be heard during the weekend's protests.
It is the longest continuous protest since President Mubarak stepped down in February and casts a shadow over elections due to start next week.
Large crowds again streamed into Tahrir Square on Monday - defying the military's attempts to keep them away from the place that was the symbolic heart of demonstrations against Mr Mubarak.
TV footage showed tear gas being fired into the protesters, while fire bombs and chunks of concrete were reportedly being lobbed back at the police.
Lyse Doucet in Cairo tweeted that medical students joined the protest on Monday with a banner calling for power to be handed over by April 2012.
As daylight faded, even more people were filling Tahrir Square, she added.
The clashes followed fierce fighting on Sunday. Violence also took place in other cities over the weekend, including Alexandria, Suez and Aswan.

The military promised they would hand over power within six months. Ten months have gone by and they still haven't done it. We feel deceived”

Protester 

Fresh demands

Amr Moussa, former secretary-general of the Arab League and now a presidential candidate in Egypt, told the BBC World Service that the use of force against the protesters could not be justified.

"The way the police deals with the protesters... we're all against this kind of violence and this treatment of the people," he said.
He said the military council needed to end the uncertainty surrounding parliamentary and presidential elections.
Earlier, Culture Minister Emad Abu Ghazi resigned in protest at the government's handling of events in Tahrir Square, Egypt's official Mena news agency said.
Yolande Knell in Cairo says the demands of the protesters have changed over the course of the weekend. Crowds initially urged the military to set a date for the handover of power, but now they want the military leaders to resign immediately.
"The military promised that they would hand over power within six months," one protester said. "Now 10 months have gone by and they still haven't done it. We feel deceived."
In recent weeks, protesters - mostly Islamists and young activists - have been demonstrating against a draft constitution they say would allow the military to retain too much power after a civilian government is elected.
Earlier this month the military council produced a draft document setting out principles for a new constitution, under which the military and its budget could be exempted from civilian oversight.
A proposal by the military to delay the presidential election until late 2012 or early 2013 has further angered the opposition.
Protesters want the presidential vote to take place after parliamentary elections, which begin on 28 November and will be staggered over the next three months.
A statement from the cabinet on Sunday said the elections would go ahead as planned, and praised the "restraint" of interior ministry forces against protesters.
The military council, in a statement read out on state television, said it "regretted" what was happening, AFP news agency reports.

Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam captured in Libya

Saif al-Islam can be seen with a thick black beard and wearing traditional robes on a plane to Zintan

Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam has been captured, Libyan officials say.

He was taken by fighters near the southern town of Obari and flown to the city of Zintan in the north. Saif al-Islam told a journalist he was well.
He is the last key Gaddafi family member to be seized or killed. Libya's new prime minister says he will get a fair trial in Libya.
Saif al-Islam, 39, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity.
A militia force allied to the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) said he had been captured in the desert about 50km (30 miles) west of Obari, and taken to their base in Zintan in the north.

The International Criminal Court has a warrant for the arrest of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. Ideally ICC judges would like to see him tried in The Hague.
But they have quickly realised that is not likely to happen. The Libyan authorities are committed to trying members of the former regime inside Libya.
Allowing Saif al-Islam to be taken out of the country would be hugely unpopular. Quite possibly the Zintan brigade soldiers who now hold him would refuse to transfer him to the central government. And Libya is not a signatory to the ICC.
So instead, the court is already working to try to ensure a fair trial inside Libya. For Saif al-islam Gaddafi a trial in his own country means he could face the death penalty. That's something that would not have happened if his father had signed up Libya to the ICC, where the maximum sentence is life in prison.

A commander of the Zintan militia, Wisam Dughaly, said Saif al-Islam had been captured along with several aides as they tried to smuggle him out to neighbouring Niger.

Fighters said they were taken without a shot being fired.
"At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him," one of his captors, named as Ahmed Ammar, told Reuters news agency.
Libyan TV showed pictures of Saif al-Islam on the plane to Zintan with bandages on his left hand.
Asked by Reuters reporter Marie-Louise Gumuchian during the flight if he was feeling all right, he said simply: "Yes." He added that he had been injured in a Nato air strike a month ago.
Interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib told reporters in Zintan: "We assure Libyans and the world that Saif al-Islam will receive a fair trial."
He added that he was happy for him to remain in Zintan rather than be transferred to the capital, Tripoli.
"Our brothers and sisters here and the authorities are definitely trustworthy. We trust their ability to be able take care of this person," Mr Keib said.
The Zintan fighters, who make up one of the powerful militia factions in the country, have said they plan to keep Saif al-Islam until they could hand him over to Tripoli.
Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said Gaddafi's son would face justice in Libya itself.

Saif al-Islam: ICC charges

• Indirect co-perpetrator of murder and persecution as crimes against humanity
• Between 15 February and 28 February, Gaddafi security forces carried out systematic attacks against civilians
• Saif al-Islam "assumed essential tasks" to make sure plan worked

ICC spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah said that Libya had a legal obligation to hand Saif al-Islam over to the court, and that the final decision on a trial venue was up to ICC judges after consultations with Tripoli.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said he was travelling to Libya for talks on the issue, adding: "The news is Saif will get justice. Where and how, that we will discuss."
The European Union urged Libyan authorities to ensure that Said al-Islam is brought to justice in full co-operation with the ICC.
British Prime Minister David Cameron called on the country's leaders to ensure he was tried "in line with international standards".
Celebrations The capture leaves Gaddafi's former intelligence chief, Abdallah Senoussi, as the only Libyan ICC suspect still at large.
Saif al-Islam had been on the run since NTC forces took Tripoli in August, six months into the uprising.
Colonel Gaddafi himself was killed on 20 October after being captured during the final battle for his hometown, Sirte.

The interim government in Libya has launched an inquiry into how he died.
Saif al-Islam's capture is a very significant moment for Libyans.
They came to see Saif al-Islam as the heir apparent, as a younger version of his father due to his rhetoric during the uprising, she says.
However, at one time he was considered one of the more liberal of Col Gaddafi's sons and was courted in the West.
Celebrations erupted on the streets of Tripoli shortly after the news of his arrest emerged.
People were hooting car horns, waving flags and firing guns into the air.
Saif al-Islam has been reported captured before. In August, rebel forces announced his arrest as they took control of Tripoli - only for him to appear in front of cameras to disprove it.

Assad says Syria will not bow down to 'pressure'

President Assad vows to continue "fight against militants"

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has said his country will not bow down to "pressure" and predicted its bloody conflict would continue.

Speaking to the UK's Sunday Times, he said the unity and stability of Syria were at stake.
An Arab League deadline for Syria to end its crackdown passed overnight with no sign of violence abating.
There are reports of a grenade attack on a building of the ruling party in the capital Damascus.
If confirmed, it would be the first such attack reported inside the capital since the uprising began in March.
At least 27 people were killed on Saturday, according to opposition activists, including four government intelligence agents whose car was ambushed in Hama by gunmen believed to be army defectors.
Foreign journalists are unable to move around Syria freely, making it difficult to verify reports.
The UN believes at least 3,500 people have been killed in the conflict since March.
Election promise The Arab League's plan has been the focus of efforts to find a diplomatic solution and comes as key international players such as Russia and the US warned of the danger of civil war in Syria.

Arab League proposals

• End to violence and killing
• Allow foreign journalists to work freely
• Release prisoners recently detained
• Withdraw all military equipment from Syrian cities
• Government-opposition dialogue within two weeks

Syria was reported to have agreed in principle to accept the Arab League's peace plan but critics accused it of stalling for time.

"The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue," Mr Assad told the Sunday Times.
"However, I assure you that Syria will not bow down and that it will continue to resist the pressure being imposed on it."
Mr Assad appeared to dismiss the Arab League plan, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut.
He said it was designed to show that the Arabs were divided, and to prepare the way for outside military intervention which, he repeated, would have dire consequences for the whole region.
The head of the Arab League said it was studying a letter from Syria seeking changes to its proposed observer mission, with reports saying Damascus is seeking to reduce the observer delegation from 500 to 40.
Observers are supposed to oversee the implementation of the plan, which requires the government to stop attacking demonstrators, pull its military out of restive areas and begin negotiations with the opposition.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Syrian president also promised elections in February or March when Syrians would vote for a parliament to create a new constitution, which would in turn determine future presidential elections.
"That constitution will set the basis of how to elect a president, if they need a president or don't need him..." he said. "The ballot boxes will decide who should be president."
'Message to regime' The opposition Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) said "several" RPG rockets had been launched at a Baath Party building in the Mazraa neighbourhood of Damascus, and firefighters had been dispatched to the area.
Normal movement resumed in the streets around the party office on Sunday morning but security forces remained in force inside the building.
Residents reported an exchange of fire overnight.
An unnamed witness told Reuters news agency the attack had happened before dawn and the building had been mostly empty.
"I saw smoke rising from the building and fire trucks around it," he told Reuters. "It seems to have been intended as a message to the regime."
The Syrian Free Army, comprised of army defectors and based in neighbouring Turkey, said it had carried out the attack, according to Reuters.
The report of the grenade attacks is so far unconfirmed and there is even a slight suspicion that it might have been the regime itself doing something to justify its assertion that it is armed terrorists who are behind all the trouble.

Syria nears Arab League deadline for end to crackdown

 

Protests against President Bashar al-Assad, like this one in Palmyra on Friday, have been continuing despite the government's crackdown

Violence has been continuing in Syria, as a deadline set by the Arab League approaches for the government to end its crackdown on protesters.

A Syrian diplomatic source said Damascus would accept observers to monitor implementation of a peace deal, but with conditions.
The head of the Arab League said it was studying a letter from Syria seeking changes to its proposed observer mission.
The Arab League has suspended Syria.
It set a deadline of midnight local time (22:00 GMT on Saturday) for the government to stop its bloody suppression of anti-government protests, or face sanctions.
'Smaller delegation' However, activists said at least 11 people died in clashes on Friday, amid growing fears of civil war.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said the group was studying a letter from Syria which "included amendments to the draft protocol regarding the legal status and duties of the monitoring mission of the Arab League to Syria".

Arab League proposals

• End to violence and killing
• Allowing foreign journalists to work freely
• Releasing prisoners recently detained
• Withdrawing all military equipment from Syrian cities
• Government-opposition dialogue within two weeks

Reports suggest Damascus has said it will accept a delegation of 40 observers - a much smaller number than the 500 initially proposed by the League.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in neighbouring Lebanon, says opposition activists are extremely sceptical, believing that the government is just playing for time.
But the Syrian authorities also face a dilemma, our correspondent says: if they allow the situation to be stabilised with observers, and pull their troops out, they could see large parts of the country falling outside their control.
The Arab League plan, drawn up earlier this month, calls on Syria to withdraw tanks from restive cities, cease its attacks on protesters and engage in dialogue with the opposition within two weeks.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to the plan at the time, but has so far failed to implement it.
Correspondents say the invitation for League officials to visit Syria is a significant concession by Damascus.
Syria is aware that Libya's suspension from the Arab League helped persuade the UN Security Council to authorise the military action which helped topple Col Muammar Gaddafi.
'Restraint and caution' On Friday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for restraint over Syria, after a meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
"We are calling for restraint and caution. This is our position," Mr Putin told a Moscow news conference, according to AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague will meet members of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) and the National Co-ordination Committee for Democratic Change in London on Monday, his office said.
Mr Hague's decision to meet opposition members comes amid mounting pressure on Damascus.
Both the US and Turkey have warned that the situation could escalate into a civil war. King Abdullah of Jordan urged Mr Assad to stand down.
But the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said she did not expect there to be an international intervention as in Libya.
Some 400 people have been killed since the announcement of the Arab League initiative on 2 November, activists in Syria said.
The UN says at least 3,500 people have died since the unrest began in March, while many others have disappeared or been jailed.

Fury At Sinking Economies Drives Global Demos

 
Violence has broken out in Athens, New York and across Italy as anger caused by economic strife boils over on the streets.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered near Wall Street, with some trying to stop workers getting to their desks in the Big Apple's financial district.
There were skirmishes as tempers flared and it is understood several dozen arrests have been made.
Sky's Hannah Thomas-Peter, at the scene, told Kay Burley she saw officers take away at least 15 people over incidents of spitting and failing to move on.
Protesters say they are upset that billions of dollars in bailouts given to banks during the recession allowed a return to huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and a struggling economy.
They also believe the richest 1% of Americans do not pay their fair share of taxes.
Greece has already had to change its government as it battles to introduce sweeping austerity measures in order to stay solvent and part of the eurozone.
Thousands of people are rallying to mark the 38th anniversary of the day in 1973 when military tanks quashed a student rebellion at the Athens Polytechnic.
Some 7,000 police officers have been sent on to the streets of Athens as the city braces for anti-austerity demonstrations arising from the annual November 17 march.
Authorities fear the threat of trouble this year is much more acute thanks to anger at the price being paid by ordinary workers for the country's economic mismanagement.
Demonstrators angry at budget cuts clashed with police across Italy, where transport strikes left buses and trains stranded.
Police in riot gear clashed with students in Milan, while in Palermo, Sicily, demonstrators hurled eggs and smoke bombs at a bank, and protesters threw stones at police who hit back back with pepper spray and charged demonstrators who were trying to occupy another bank.
One protester was reported to have sustained head injuries.
In Rome, hundreds of students gathered outside Sapienza University, while others assembled near the main train station ahead of a planned march on the Senate.
The protests took place as Italian Premier Mario Monti prepared to unveil his anti-crisis strategy ahead of a confidence vote in his day-old government.
Mr Monti's cabinet took the place of the government led by controversial media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, who stepped down last week after unrelenting pressure from markets worried about Italy's escalating public debt and stubbornly stagnant economy.
As the protests were taking place Spain looked as though it could become the next victim of the economic crisis in the eurozone as the cost of state borrowing soared to a dangerous new high.
Ten-year bond yields jumped to a record high of 6.8% - with 7% seen as the territory for a financial bailout.
The spread between French and German bonds is wider than ever, with concerns growing that France could lose its triple-A credit rating.
Investors have shied away from buying debt in countries seen as being in the eurozone firing line because of the potential risks associated with nations such as Italy, Spain and France.
Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said: "Equity markets across Europe are weak today as contagion takes a firm grip.
"European indices are down sharply with investors offloading holdings as they lose confidence in EU ministers being able to stem the crisis."