The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled (PDF) May 21 that the case against Muammar Qaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Qaddafi may proceed in the ICC and that Libyan authorities must immediately surrender Saif al-Islam to The Hague. Saif al-Islam is being tried on multiple crimes against humanity associated with the 2011 revolt in his home country. A majority of the ICC Appeals Chamber, with one dissenting opinion, rejected all four grounds of appeal brought by the Libyan government, concluding that it had not been effectively demonstrated that the domestic investigation in Libya would cover the same case that would be presented before the ICC. Judge Erkki Kourula stated that "the Appeals Chamber did not err in either fact or law when it concluded that Libya had fallen short of substantiating, by means of evidence of a sufficient degree of specificity and probative value, that Libya's investigation covers the same case that is before the Court." The Libyan government also presented arguments that the Pre-Trial Chamber had committed procedural errors when reaching its decision, to which the Appeals Chamber confirmed the Pre-Trial Chamber's decision. The judgment affirmed the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I decision (PDF) in May 2013 to allow Saif al-Islam to be tried in the ICC, which Libya subsequently appealed in June.
From Jurist, May 22. Used with permission.
