By Libya Herald staff.
4 November 2014:
Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi was absent from this week’s court hearing of former regime officials as fighting . . .[restrict]in the Jebel Nafusa (Western Mountains) region prevented the usual video link from being set up, judiciary officials said.
“Because of the security situation in the area around Zintan, the workers who were supposed to operate the video link couldn’t get to Zintan, so it was both a technical problem and a security problem,” head of the investigation department of the General Attorney’s office Sadiq Al-Sour told the Libya Herald.
He was adamant that Saif Al-Islam was alive and well and still in Zintan, despite the ongoing fighting in the region. “If anything had happened to him we would know because we are in touch with the court officials in Zintan,” he said. “There is no doubt that he is still alive.”
Saif Al-Islam was the only one absent from the Sunday hearing, he said, with 31 prisoners involved in total, eight of whom appeared via video link from a prison in Misrata. The Tripoli-based prisoners included Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi.
Qaddafi’s former prime minister and intelligence chief Abuzied Dorda’s lawyer was one of several who pointed out that not all the witnesses for the defence were present. Dorda’s lawyer said that this meant he had been unable to fully prepare the case for the defence.
Six defence witnesses did appear, Sour said, and all left the court safely afterwards.
A number of defence lawyers did not turn up for the hearing, including that of Qaddafi’s personal security chief Mansour Dhau Ibrahim. Sour said the court imposed fined on all the lawyers concerned.
The security for the court and members of the judiciary was exactly the same as before the summer takeover of Tripoli, Sour said, adding that a number of journalists attended the hearing, including four TV channels.
The hearing was adjourned until 16 November. [/restrict]
