Moammar Gadhafi’s son Saif al-Islam has been freed after facing a death sentence for his part in killing protesters during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011 that led to his father’s overthrow and death.
Al-Islam, the dictator’s second son, was held by a militia in Libya’s northwestern region of Zintan for five years before being freed in April under an amnesty agreement, according to Newsweek. In 2015 he was sentenced to death in absentia by a court in the capitol, Tripoli.
But the militia that held him opposes the regime in Tripoli, which may have prevented the sentence from being carried out.
Since 2011, two governments have emerged: one in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj and backed by the United Nations, and considered the central government; and an independent parliament in Tobruk to the east. The Islamic State terrorist group took advantage of the instability, seizing control of the city of Sirte in February 2015.
The disarray and general upheaval in the North African country raised questions about the court’s ability to conduct a fair trial of al-Islam and his co-defendants.
“This trial has been plagued by persistent, credible allegations of fair trial breaches that warrant independent and impartial judicial review,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “The victims of the serious crimes committed during the 2011 uprising deserve justice, but that can only be delivered through fair and transparent proceedings.”
Human Rights Watch covered al-Islam’s trial, and last July they determined that the proceeding, which also convicted more than 30 Gadhafi government officials, “was undermined by serious due process violations.” Al-Islam, former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, and two ex-prime ministers, al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi and Abuzaid Dorda, were all sentenced to death after the trial. But at least for Gadhafi’s son, the punishment was never carried out.
“He’s been released from Zintan detention. The release, I’m told, was on 12 April — there was an order from the central government,” Islam’s lawyer, Karim Khan, told The Guardian. “He’s in Libya, he’s in good health, he’s safe and he’s well.”
Although the Libyan government set him free, Islam is still wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
“There was a trial, there was a conviction, he was sentenced to death. After that there was an amnesty,” Khan continued. “I’m going to be filing an application that the case is inadmissible at the ICC under
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