Libya: ICC staff held in Zintan released

 

          Four staff members from the International Criminal Court (ICC) held in Libya for four weeks on suspicion of spying have been released.

        The announcement came during a visit to Libya by ICC president Sang-Hyun Song.

       The team had been accused of spying while visiting Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the deposed Libyan leader, in the town of Zintan.

        A senior member of the Libyan attorney-general's office confirmed to the BBC that the four would be leaving Libya.

         "They are due to face the courts here in Tripoli for the final ruling" on 23 July, the source said.

         "We expect them to come back for the hearing but if they don't, a ruling will be made in absentia," the source added.

      Coded documents

           Mr Song offered an apology to the Libyan authorities for the "difficulties" caused by the mission.
In a news conference organised in Zintan, Mr Song also thanked the Libyan authorities for arranging the "release of the four ICC staff to be re-united with their families".

         Mr Song also "expressed his relief that the ICC staff members were well treated during their detention".

         The ICC employees had been accused of jeopardising Libya's national security, the BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli reports.

          One of the four, Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor, was accused of passing Saif al-Islam coded documents, allegedly written by his former right-hand man, during the team's visit.

          Ms Taylor and her Lebanese colleague Helene Assaf, a translator, were then formally detained.

         Their two other colleagues, Russian Alexander Khodakov and Spaniard Esteban Peralta Losilla, remained with them out of solidarity.

          Last week, the ICC promised in a statement to investigate any claims of wrongdoing by its staff upon their release and to impose "appropriate sanctions" if necessary.

         Ms Taylor was appointed by the ICC to help prepare the defence of Saif al-Islam, who was captured by the Zintan militia last November as he tried to flee the country.

         The Zintan militia have refused to hand Saif al-Islam over to Tripoli, while the Libyan government is rejecting ICC demands to try him in The Hague.

         Some have expressed concern that Saif al-Islam may not face a fair trial in Libya.

          He was previously considered to be heir apparent to his father, Col Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown last year following a popular uprising and Nato air campaign mandated by the UN to protect Libyan civilians.

         Col Gaddafi himself was killed after being captured during an assault on his hometown of Sirte in October.

 

Posted in: Africa