By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 15 September 2015:
The London-based attorney for Libya’s former prime minister Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi says he is investigating reports that . . .[restrict]his client and others face execution on Thursday.
Karim Khan who represents Mahmoudi in his continuing bid to have his case considered by the International Criminal Court, said he is seeking assurances from the Tripoli authorities that his client is safe.
“We have received the latest news of imminent executions with obvious alarm and deep concern. We are trying to investigate whether these stories are accurate and whether the authorities in Tripoli have indeed decided to execute Dr Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi and others,” said Khan. “Execution without due process is murder and nothing less.”
In July, Mahmoudi and other former Qaddafi-era officials, including former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, were sentenced to death by a court sitting in Hadba prison in Tripoli.
Officials of the internationally-recognised government, operating in Beida, says it does not legitimise the Tripoli proceedings, noting the city and court are controlled by Libya Dawn militias.
Media reports from Tripoli also mention the possibility of an execution on Thursday, although when the original death sentences were announced in Tripoli, it was specified that a higher court had to confirm to them, and also that there could first be an appeal against the sentences.
The news comes as a military court run by militias in Misrata, also part of Libya Dawn, announced that a cousin of Qaddafi, Said Qaddaf Al-Dam, had been found not guilty of a charge of exploiting state armed forces for political aims.
He is the cousin of Ahmed Qaddaf Al-Dam, who fled Libya in the 2011 uprising and who is now resident in Egypt.
The trial of Mahmoudi, Senussi and more than 20 others has been criticised by human rights groups for lacking transparency and due process.
Khan said the world will be watching events in Tripoli: “The trial of Dr Baghdadi and others patently failed to meet internationally accepted standards. Allegations of torture have now been well documented. Assurances that trials would be fair have been exposed as brazenly false. Those in charge of ‘justice’ and ‘law and order’ in Tripoli must be aware that the world is fully appraised of this reality.” [/restrict]
