Death to Qaddafi

DRESSED in blue prison uniforms, some of the most feared apparatchiks of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime lined up for sentencing in a Tripoli courtroom on July 28th. But the most recognisable defendant, and one of nine to be handed the death penalty, was not there. Instead Saif al-Islam Qaddafi (pictured), once considered his father’s heir apparent, learned of his fate somewhere far from the Libyan capital.

Mr Qaddafi was last known to be held by militiamen in the north-western town of Zintan, where he was taken after his capture by rebels in the latter stages of the 2011 uprising in which his father was killed. From there he joined three of the 24 trial sessions by video link, but Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, says that he has not been seen or heard from since June 2014.

The court in Tripoli ordered that Mr Qaddafi face a firing squad for charges relating to attempts to quash the rebellion that eventually ended his father’s 42 years in power. He was accused of involvement in the killing of protesters and the recruitment of mercenaries. The charges he was convicted of include incitement to murder and rape.

The man some once hailed as a possible reformer is not likely to be executed anytime soon: the Zintanis believed to be currently holding him do not recognise the court in Tripoli nor the Islamist-backed government currently controlling the city and claiming, in defiance of international powers, to rule the country. There are other reasons why Zintan would not readily give up such a high-value prisoner; by holding Mr Qaddafi, the small mountain town has become a powerful player in Libya.

Among the other key figures sentenced to death this week were Qaddafi’s former spy chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, his last prime minister, Al-Mahmoudi al-Baghdadi, and former head of foreign intelligence, Buzeid Dorda. Their mass trial, which opened in a blaze of publicity in April last year, had been controversial from the start. Human-rights groups and the International Criminal Court queried the trial’s standards, and it was delayed several times. The verdicts and sentences, while applauded by some Libyans, have left many others uneasy. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday it was “deeply disturbed” by the court’s decisions. The UN support mission for Libya, which had monitored the trial until its staff evacuated as the country plunged back into civil war last year, noted flaws including reported intimidation of witnesses, a lack of access to legal counsel and no presentation of witnesses or documents in open court. Mr Qaddafi’s lawyer denounced it as a “complete show trial, a farce.”

The verdicts come at a difficult time. UN efforts to bring an end to the political power struggle fuelling the civil war are making little progress. Islamic State militants are expanding their presence in the spaces which neither of the two rival governments control. The economy is in free-fall. In recent weeks, rallies in some towns have featured banners bearing Saif al-Islam’s face. Some have openly called for the return of the old dictator’s son.