Moamer Qadhafi's spymaster Abdullah Senussi was arrested on Sunday, Libyan officials announced and said that the dead dictator's son captured the previous day would face trial in Libya. Ignoring world pressure, Libya's interim rulers insisted that Saif al-Islam, Qadhafi's one-time heir apparent, would be tried inside Libya rather than at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
World powers, fearful that Saif would not be given a fair trail after his father was felled by a bullet to the head after being captured exactly a month ago, are urging Libya to work with the ICC.
The court wants to try the 39-year-old for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Qadhafi's forces in crushing anti-regime protests in February. But the NTC insists that Saif will face trial at home.
"The decision is that he will be tried by Libyan courts. It is a question of national sovereignty," NTC vice chairman and official spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told reporters.
Interim justice minister Mohammed al-Allagui earlier told AFP Qadhafi's son would be tried in Libya "because local justice is the rule and international justice is the exception."
"We have the necessary guarantees for a fair trial, especially after the amendment of a law that guarantees the independence of the judiciary as regards the executive," he said.
On Saturday, the ICC said Libya must hand Saif over but held out the prospect of a trial in Tripoli. ICC spokesman Fadi Al-Abdallah told AFP Libyan authorities were obliged to cooperate with the ICC and surrender him to the court as required by the UN resolution on Libya. "If they want a trial in Libya, they must submit a request for dismissal and procedures in Libya must be conducted on the same charges as those contained in the warrant of the ICC," Abdallah added.
Asked about the ICC's comments, Allagui said: "We will reach agreement with the ICC, in conformity with the laws in force."
After three months on the run, Saif was caught in Libya's far-flung Saharan south early on Saturday in a trap set by a Zintan brigade of militiamen loyal to the new regime.
Ex-spy Senussi was captured in the south on Sunday, officials said. Bashir Uweidat, who heads the southern Wadi Shati military council, said Senussi "did not put up any resistance" and was arrested by former rebels in his sister's home in the Al-Guira region.
Ghoga confirmed the arrest of Qadhafi's brother-in-law, who is also wanted by the ICC. The court issued warrants on June 27 against Saif, 39, Qadhafi and Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity.
In particular, it accused Senussi, 62, of being an "indirect perpetrator of crimes against humanity of murder and persecution based on political grounds" committed in Benghazi from February 15 until at least February 20.
Senussi has been described by the ICC as "one of the most powerful and efficient organs of repression of Moamer Qadhafi's regime." He is also wanted in France where a Paris court sentenced him in absentia to life in 1999 over an attack on a French UTA airliner a decade earlier that killed 170 people.
World powers have repeatedly urged Libya's new rulers to respect international norms in dealing with prisoners amid reports of abuse, and are now urging the NTC to cooperate fully with the ICC.
Russia's special representative for Africa, Mikhail Margelov, clearly articulated international concerns. "We are happy that this time the new authorities in Libya did not resort to summary justice for Saif al-Islam," he said after Saif was flown to Zintan.
Zintan military council chief Osama Juili said Saif would be held there until a new transitional government, expected to be announced within days, decides his fate.
"At the moment, he is being held in Zintan. We are going to guarantee the treatment of prisoners under international law." More details about Saif's capture emerged on Sunday, with one Zintan brigade member expressing surprise at his courage. When they were ambushed, Saif and the five people with him in a two-car convoy "did not realise at first what they were dealing with," said Ahmed Amer.
"They were afraid at first to be shot, but we must acknowledge that Saif al-Islam surprised us with his calmness and courage."
Saif and his men were armed with little more than "Kalashnikovs, light automatic rifles and grenades," he said. Senussi also had only personal weapons on him when captured. Libya's interim prime minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib said on Saturday that Saif would be given a fair trial.
"I reassure our people and the world that Saif, and those with him, will be given a fair trial in which international rights and norms will be guaranteed," Kib said. The head of the Zintan brigade which arrested Saif said he was captured at overnight Friday in the Wadi al-Ajal district, near Awbari in Libya's south, Al-Ajmi al-Atiri said.
"We received a tip-off from one of Saif's bodyguards. He told us he was thinking of fleeing to Niger," Atiri told reporters.
News of Saif's capture was greeted with celebratory gunfire in Libya's major cities and Senussi's arrest was described as a "victory" by the interim defence minister.
Libyan television channel Al-Ahrar broadcast footage of Saif heavily bearded and with three fingers of his right hand bandaged. Atiri said the injuries came in a Nato air strike.
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