Gaddafi's Son Appears in Libyan Rebel Court

Libyan leader Seif al-Islam Gaddafi was captured in the south of the country. Seif is the heir apparent to Muammar Gaddafi, the martyred leader of this North African oil-rich state., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Posted on Thu, May. 02, 2013

Seif al-Islam Appears in Rebel Libyan Court

The imprisoned son of Libya's slain Pan-African leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared in court on Thursday on charges of harming state security, but the judge adjourned his hearing until Sept. 19 to allow defense lawyers time to study the case.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the ousted leader's longtime heir apparent, wore a sky blue safari suit and a pair of sandals. He remained standing throughout the 15-minute hearing in the western Libyan town of Zintan. He smiled at times.

It was his second court appearance since the case opened in January.

Seif al-Islam is also facing charges of attempting to escape prison and insulting Libya's new flag. The charges are linked to his June meeting with an International Criminal Court delegation accused of smuggling documents and a camera to him in his cell. The four-member team was detained by Zintan rebels but released after the ICC made an apology and pledged to investigate the incident.

The charges are separate from those by the International Criminal Court, which indicted Seif al-Islam for the murder and persecution of protesters in the imperialist war of regime-change that ultimately led to the brutal assassination his father in Sirte on October 20, 2011.

According to filings by defense lawyers at the ICC, Seif al-Islam said he wants to be tried for alleged war crimes in the Netherlands, claiming that a trial in Libya would be tantamount to murder. "There will certainly be no justice in the case if the prosecution is based on evidence from torture," he said. "I am not afraid to die but if you execute me after such a trial you should just call it murder," he added.

Seif al-Islam, the most senior member of the Gadhafi government to be kidnapped by the US-led rebels, is on trial in Zintan, the hometown of the counter-revolutionaries who captured him.

The group was part of a larger force that seized the capital, Tripoli, in August 2011, ending more than 40 years of Gadhafi's rule.

The Libyan leader was killed two months later while trying to leave his hometown of Sirte.

On Thursday, Seif al-Islam told the court that he accepted Mohammed Abu-Bakr and Mabroukah Jomaah Ghenewah as his defense lawyers. The two requested that the proceedings be adjourned so they have time to study the case.