Libya court 'incompetent' in Gadhafi backers case

Libyan military court on Wednesday declared itself incompetent in the first trial.

Πηγή: Times of Oman
By AFP
Feb 22 2012

Libya: Libyan military court on Wednesday declared itself incompetent in the first trial of alleged loyalists of the toppled regime of Moamer Gadhafi.

"We decided the court is incompetent in this matter," said Ali Hamdi, a judge in the court in the eastern city of Benghazi. A defence lawyer welcomed the decision.

"This proves that justice is doing well and on the right track," the lawyer, Hussein Gheniwa, told.

From the start of the trial on February 5, the defence team had argued against holding a military trial when the majority of those accused were civilians.There were 43 accused present at the hearing.

Most faced charges of "supporting the former regime against the Libyan revolution" in attempts to crush the revolt, "intending to commit criminal acts" and "aiding prisoners to escape."

The accused were rounded up in July last year in Benghazi, cradle of the popular uprising, during a raid by former rebels against a cell of Kadhafi backers.

The ruling National Transitional Council said at the time that several escaped prisoners of war were hiding within the armed group in a Benghazi licence-plate factory.

Rebels had seized TNT explosives and several pickup trucks equipped with machineguns, according to the same sources. The cell was blamed for a prison break and accused of planning to plant car bombs in Benghazi.

Libya's Saif Gadhafi could be tried within weeks, official says

Abdelali: Gadhafi son will face trial

Πηγή: joyonline
By CNN
Feb 6 2012

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of Libya's deposed leader Moammar Gadhafi, could go on trial "within weeks or months," the country's interior minister said Sunday.

The investigations into the death of Moammar Gadhafi after his capture last year could also be completed soon, Fawzy Abdilal said.

Saif al-Islam's case will be handed to the courts as soon as the prosecutor general completes his investigations, Abdilal told CNN in an exclusive interview.

Separately, military trials of those who "committed criminal acts under the Gadhafi regime" began Sunday in the city of Benghazi, National Transitional Council member Mohammed El Sayah said.

He did not name those who were being tried, but said "even civilians who had guns and fought under the Gadhafi regime" would be tried before military courts.

Trials elsewhere in the country will start later, he said. Benghazi was the center of resistance to the Gadhafi regime last year.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, once his father's heir apparent, was captured in November and has been held in the Libyan city of Zintan since then.

Human Rights Watch said after visiting Saif al-Islam in custody last year that he should have a lawyer, but Abdilal implied he had not asked for one.

"He may have a lawyer if he asks for a lawyer," the interior minister said. "Should Saif demand a lawyer, then a lawyer would be provided."

He also brushed aside accusations that authorities are torturing detainees under the new government.

There are "not systematic violations as there were under the Gadhafi regime," he said, even as he conceded that "there may be cases of individuals who take the law into their own hands."

"There is no comparison whatsoever between the situation prevailing under Moammar Gadhafi and the situation now," he said.

Moammar Gadhafi was killed in October, two months after he was deposed by rebel fighters.

Abdilal said the circumstances of his death were complicated.

"It was a battlefield, he was carrying weapons, there were fighters around, no one was controlling those fighters," Abdilal said.

And, he said, "Many people claim that they are the ones who killed Gadhafi, and that is complicating matters."

Abdilal acknowledged that the interim government had not yet succeeded in integrating militias from different cities into a national security force, saying his visit to Britain was partly to seek help with that task.

Fighters from Zintan still control the international airport, he said, adding that he expected them to hand control over to the Ministry of the Interior "within two weeks."

Libya court postpones trial of Gaddafi loyalists

A new Syrian flag flies over the Russian embassy building as a protester climbs up to place a Libyan flag in Tripoli, February 5, 2012.

Πηγή: Reuters
By Mohammed Al Tommy
Feb 6 2012

Libya started and then swiftly postponed court proceedings on Sunday against 41 Libyans accused of helping Muammar Gaddafi crush the popular revolt that ended in his death last year, Libyan news agency LANA said on Sunday.

"The decision (to postpone) was made in the wake of listening to the pleadings of the defence panel that argued that this military court is not a competent entity and called for referring the case to the civil judiciary," LANA said on its website.

The prosecutors at the trial, which is being held at a military base in the eastern city of Benghazi, have accused the 41 men of murder and aiding prisoners to escape.

Intisar al-Agili, a Benghazi representative of the ruling National Transitional Council, told Reuters the trial had been postponed to February 15.

"The delay is based on the requests of the 15-lawyer defence team to review the evidence ... and on the requests of some detainees who want to hire their own lawyers," she said.

Libya is currently at loggerheads with the International Criminal Court (ICC), after militia fighters captured Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi's most prominent son, in November.

Libya says it will try Saif al-Islam at home, where he could face the death penalty. But the global court based in The Hague has said Libya will first have to answer concerns, raised by activists, that Saif al-Islam was being held incommunicado, without access to lawyers, and to provide information about his mental and physical health.

If the war crimes court rules Libya is unwilling or unable to try Saif al-Islam, who is accused of crimes against humanity over the killing of civilian protesters, it says it will take jurisdiction.

Saif al-Islam would rank among the biggest names to go before the ICC if he were transferred to The Hague for trial.

41 in court at first Libya trial of Gaddafi loyalists

Πηγή: Kashmir Times
Feb 6 2012

Libya put 41 loyalists of dead dictator Muammar Gaddafi on trial, in the first legal proceedings launched against members of the former regime which was ousted after a bloody conflict.

The accused, mostly civilians, appeared in a military court in the eastern city of Benghazi, the birthplace of the uprising against Gaddafi which ended on October 20 with his killing in his home town of Sirte. 

Their trial comes as human rights groups have raised concerns over Libya's judicial system and also accused former rebels of 'torturing' Gaddafi loyalists in custody. 

'It is the first trial concerning the February 17 revolution,' judge Colonel Ali Al Hamida said at the start of the proceedings, referring to the day when the anti-Gaddafi conflict erupted last year in Benghazi. 

The 41, all men, are accused of supporting the Gaddafi regime in its attempts to crush the popular revolt, as well as helping prisoners to escape and setting up 'criminal gangs.' 

An AFP correspondent attending the proceedings said the first session of the trial was held under tight security.

The 15-lawyer defence team for the accused contested the proceedings, saying most of the accused are civilians but are being prosecuted in a military court. 

The trial was later adjourned to February 15.The New-York based Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2012, has raised concerns over Libya's judicial system. 

'Libya's interim government and its international supporters should make it an urgent priority to build a functioning justice system and begin legal reform that protects human rights after Muammar Gaddafi,' the group said in the report. 

HRW and two other human rights groups, Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, have also accused former rebels who helped topple Gaddafi's 42-year-old rule of 'torturing' their prisoners, mainly ex-regime loyalists. 

On Friday, HRW noted that a former ambassador to France, Omar Brebesh, died of possible 'torture' in the custody of a militia less than 24 hours after his detention in Tripoli. 

Amnesty International and Doctors without Borders have also charged that the militias use 'widespread torture' against their prisoners in cities such as Tripoli, Misrata and smaller towns like Ghariyan.

Doctors Without Borders even suspended its work in Misrata over allegations of torture in prisons there.

Libyan officials insist that the country's judiciary is 'competent' to handle the legal cases of former regime members, including putting on trial Gaddafi's most prominent son, Seif Al Islam. Seif, 39, who was arrested on November 19, is in the custody of the military council of Zintan, a town 180 kilometres (110 miles), southwest of Tripoli. 

He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the conflict.

Trial begins of eight former police officers accused of framing Cardiff Three over Lynette White murder

Lynette White

Πηγή: Walesonline

7 Jule 2011

Eight former police officers have gone on trial accused of framing three men for the murder of prostitute Lynette White in 1988.




Miss White, 20, was stabbed 50 times in a flat above a bookmakers in the Cardiff's Butetown area on Valentines Day of that year.

Five people twice stood trial for murder and three - Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Tony Paris - were jailed for life. Cousins Ronnie and John Actie were found not guilty.

The three were released two years later by the Court of Appeal and in 2003 advances in DNA trapped security guard Jeffrey Gafoor, from Llanharan, who admitted he had killed Miss White single handedly. He is now serving life.