Tripoli: Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) has said that the trail of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, could begin ‘within weeks or months’.
The trial, which will focus on Saif's role as a key member of the previous regime in Libya, could eventually see the former dictator’s son facing a death sentence.
According to The Independent, his trail could coincide with the publication of a report into the circumstances surrounding the death of Muammar Gaddafi.
NTC’s Fawzi Abdelali, the country’s new Interior Minister, gave the update on Saif's trail and also rejected the suggestion that the human rights situation in Libya was deteriorating.
“There are not systematic violations as there were under the Gaddafi regime”, Abdelali said, before admitting that “there may be individuals who take the law into their own hands”.
“There is no comparison whatsoever between the situation prevailing under Muammar Gaddafi and the situation now,” he added.
Meanwhile, supporters of Saif al-Islam, who was captured in the Sahara desert in November last year, say they doubt he will be given a fair trial in Libya, and insist he should be tried by the ICC in The Hague.
If a Libyan court finds him guilty, Saif al-Islam would face the death penalty, while if the court in The Hague convicts him, the maximum punishment would be a prison term.
ANI
First Published: Monday, February 06, 2012, 16:19