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| Africa North |
| ICC warrant for Khalifa Haftar ally Mahmoud al-Werfalli |
| 2017-08-16 |
| [Al Jazeera] The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for a senior Libyan military commander allied with Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... suspected of involvement in the deaths of 33 people in the eastern city of Benghazi. Haftar is the controversial chief of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), which now controls key Libyan oil ports. Libya descended into chaos following the 2011 civil war that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... , and the country is now split between rival governments and militias. The ICC document, seen by Al Jazeera on Tuesday, says: "Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli [is] allegedly responsible for murder as a war crime in the context of the non-international armed conflict in Libya." The murders were committed "in seven incidents, taking place from on or before 3 June 2016 until on or about 17 July 2017, in Benghazi or surrounding areas", the warrant says. Werfalli allegedly personally shot or ordered the execution of people who were either civilians or injured fighters, according to the document. "There is no information in the evidence to show that they have been afforded a trial by a legitimate court, whether military or otherwise, that would comport to any recognised standard of due process," the ICC's judges say. |
| Posted by:Fred |