Key Questions On Libya’s Coming Transition

Will Qaddafi and his cohorts be brought to justice?

It's likely that some of them will be tried, but it's not clear by whom. The international community seems to want one thing, but the rebels want another.

The International Criminal Court, the global war crimes court, is currently negotiating with rebels to get them to hand over Qaddafi's son [3] Seif al-Islam, whom the rebels appear to have captured yesterday. The court issued arrest warrants [4] earlier this year for Muammar Qaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam Qaddafi, and intelligence chief Abdullah Al Sanousi, having found "reasonable grounds to believe" that the three men had committed crimes against humanity in the form of murder and prosecution. (Read the decision [5] [PDF].)

The rebels have insisted on trying Qaddafi at home. A rebel spokesman told Sky News today: "We want to see him be tried in Libya and not in any other place in the world [6]." They have promised to give him a fair trial [7].

It's worth noting that it's not clear whether Libya is actually obligated to hand over Qaddafi. Along with the United States [8], Libya is one of a few countries that hasn't signed on to the ICC's founding treaty. But ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has said [9] that as a member of the United Nations, Libya and "any future government" in Libya is obligated to execute the warrants and turn over Qaddafi.

If the rebels do execute the warrants, an ICC trial would shield Qaddafi and his cohorts from the death penalty, which a trial in Libya would not.

Nonetheless, the United States and other countries cheered the news of the warrants when they were issued. It was the first time the United States had voted to refer an issue to the war crimes court, and as we noted, the United States only did so after including a carve-out that would shield Americans from investigation or prosecution by the court [10].


How much help have the United States and allies been giving the rebels?

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