The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor is seeking the arrest of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son and his intelligence chief, global media said on Monday.
Gaddafi, his son Saif al Islam and intelligence chief, Abdullah al Senussi – also Gadaffi’s half brother – are accused of widespread attacks on civilians.
“The office gathered direct evidence about orders issued by Muammar Gaddafi himself, direct evidence of Saif al-Islam organizing the recruitment of mercenaries and direct evidence of the participation of al-Senussi in the attacks against demonstrators,” Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said at the Court on Monday.
“The evidence shows that civilians were attacked in their homes; demonstrations were repressed using live ammunition; heavy artillery was used against participants in funeral processions, and snipers placed to kill those leaving the mosques after the prayers,” Moreno-Ocampo said.
ICC judges must still decide whether or not to issue warrants for the arrest.
Moreno-Ocampo said the court had evidence that Gaddafi and his supporters continue to persecute dissidents in the country, which has been embroiled in civil war since mid-February
“Gadhafi’s forces prepare lists with names of alleged dissidents,” Moreno-Ocampo said. “They are being arrested, put into prisons in Tripoli, tortured and made to disappear.”
Gaddafi issued an audio address on Libyan state television on Friday evening, dismissing rumors that he was injured in a recent NATO airstrike and saying he was in a place “out of NATO’s reach.”
The airstrike on a wealthy residential area in Tripoli a week ago killed Gaddafi’s youngest son and three of his grandchildren, as well as several friends and neighbors.
MOSCOW, May 16 (RIA Novosti)