Credit:  ICC.CPI /  Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), briefs United Nations Security Council members during the open video conference in connection with the International Criminal Court and the situation in Libya May 5, 2020.

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –  NEW  YORK –  Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, is a war crime under the Rome Statute.  The chief prosecutor of The Hague, Netherlands-based war tribunal  made the  statement in a Tuesday briefing  with the UN Security Council members during the open video conference in connection with the ICC and the situation in Libya.  Bensouda warned  the parties in the current conflict in Libya if actions of any party amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity they may be liable to prosecution.  She addressed the UN Security Council to present the ICC’s nineteenth report on the situation in Libya pursuant to Resolution 1970, adopted in 2011.  Bensouda stated her office is concerned about the high numbers of civilian casualties, largely reported to be resulting from airstrikes and shelling operations in Libya.

“This Council is well aware that, since my last report, serious violence related to the armed conflict in Libya, particularly in and around Tripoli, has regrettably not abated. It is now over a year since the offensive on Tripoli by the eastern-based militia known as the Libyan National Army, headed by General Khalifa Haftar, started.”

-Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court 

ICC  Prosecutor Calls For Arrest of Libyan War Criminals, Including Gaddafi’s son

Credit: icc-cpi / The warrant of arrest for Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi was issued on 27 June 2011

Bensouda reiterated the war tribunal’s demand for the arrest  of three Libyans wanted for grave crimes,  including Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.  The ICC Appeals Chamber in March confirmed that the case against  al-Islam Gaddafi, is admissible before The Hague-based war crimes tribunal.   In 2011,  the ICC issued a warrant of arrest against Gaddafi for alleged crimes against humanity of murder and persecution.   Gaddafi argued that as a consequence of domestic proceedings conducted against him in Libya he cannot be tried at the ICC.

“Accordingly, the arrest warrant for Mr Gaddafi remains enforceable. Libya continues to be under an obligation to arrest and surrender Mr Gaddafi to the Court.”

-ICC prosecutor Bensouda 

The ICC prosecutor also told the UN Security Council  her office is concerned by the arbitrary detention and serious mistreatment of detainees affecting not only migrants and refugees, but also thousands of other people detained in prisons and detention centres across Libya.  Bensouda said the  latest figures indicate that the detention of persons without due process is widespread with many detained without lawful basis or denied their fundamental procedural rights.   Bensouda added that persons detained without the proper protection of the law are at greater risk of serious forms of mistreatment, including murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence.

“Information obtained by my Office indicates that such crimes are all too common. Former detainees report brutal methods of torture. Detention-related victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence include men, women and children. Detainees have died from injuries sustained through torture, and from the failure to provide proper and timely medical care”. 

After the ouster and assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the nation was plunged into a brutal civil war.  Libya is currently divided between two centers of power- an elected parliament in the country’s east, supported by the Libyan National Army and the UN-backed Government of National Accord in the west, headed by Fayez Sarr.