Libya: Qaddafi’s Son Appears in a Tribal Court

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/world/africa/libya-qaddafis-son-appears-in-a-tribal-court.html

Version 0 of 1.

Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a son and the onetime political heir of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, appeared in a tribal court on Thursday after the militia holding him defied an order from the state to deliver him to the capital, Tripoli. Mr. Qaddafi was captured nearly two years ago by the militia fighters. Asked by the judge whether he wanted to be tried in Tripoli, Mr. Qaddafi, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court, said he preferred to remain in Zintan, 90 miles southwest of Tripoli. The trial in Zintan, unrelated to charges of crimes against humanity for which he is wanted in Tripoli and The Hague, involves a lesser charge of giving restricted information to an I.C.C. lawyer. Some Libyans say the Zintan fighters are doing more to protect him than to bring him to justice. In the power struggle between different militias since Colonel Qaddafi’s fall, the Zintan fighters have aligned themselves with tribes that once formed Colonel Qaddafi’s power base.