The investigation into the situation in Libya was opened by the ICC prosecutor in March 2011. The prosecutor's announcement came a month after the UN Security Council unanimously referred the situation in non-ICC member Libya to the Court.
First unanimous UN Security Council referral to ICC
The ICC situation in Libya concerns allegations of a 2011 state-level policy to quell, including by use of lethal force, civilian demonstrations against Muammar Gaddafi’s government. This was the first ICC situation to be unanimously referred by the UN Security Council, which stressed the need to hold accountable those responsible for attacks on civilians after the uprisings in 2011.
The Security Council set out in its referral by “condemning the violence and use of force against civilians, deploring the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including the repression of peaceful demonstrators, expressing deep concern at the deaths of civilians, and rejecting unequivocally the incitement to hostility and violence against the civilian population made from the highest level of the Libyan government.”
ICC alleges crimes against perceived dissidents
According to the ICC arrest warrants issued in the Libya situation, from 15 to at least 28 February 2011 the Libyan Security Forces, encompassing both military and security units, carried out an attack against civilians partaking in demonstrations against Gaddafi's regime or those perceived to be dissidents, killing and injuring as well as arresting and imprisoning hundreds of civilians. The alleged government policy was carried out throughout Libya, but in particular in Tripoli, Misrata, Benghazi, and cities near Benghazi, such as Al-Bayda, Derna, Tobruk, and Ajdabiya.
Arrest warrants for Muammar Gaddafi and inner circle
The ICC issued arrest warrants against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, who headed the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations – and was considered de facto prime minister at the time of the alleged crimes–, along with Abdullah Al-Senussi, director of Military Intelligence in Libya. The warrants allege that the above-committed crimes against humanity (murder and persecution) committed in Libya from 15 February until at least 28 February 2011. The case against Muammar Gaddafi was terminated in November 2011 following his death.
In November 2011, Saif Gaddafi was arrested by Libyan authorities. On 5 June 2018, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi (“Mr Gaddafi”) filed an admissibility challenge to the Court arguing that he had already been tried in Libya for the same conduct as alleged by the Prosecutor. On 5 April 2019, PTC I, by majority, rejected Mr Gaddafi’s admissibility challenge, which means the case remains admissible before the Court.
In March 2012, Al-Senussi was arrested in Mauritania. He was extradited to Libya in September 2012. Because of his domestic prosecution, the case was declared inadmissible before the Court, but so the case has not advanced before Libya’s Supreme Court. There is also an outstanding arrest warrant against Al-Tuhamy Mohamed Khaled (“Mr. Al-Tuhamy”) for charges of war crimes, allegedly committed from March 2011 to August 2011
In 2017, the Prosecutor of the ICC issued the first arrest warrants against Al-Werfally, Commander in the Al Saiqa Brigade, for charges of murder in as a war crime, allegedly killing 33 people in seven incidents. Despite an official statement by the Libyan National Army asserting Mr Al-Werfalli had been arrested and was under investigation, he allegedly killed 10 more people in an eighth execution which was filmed and circulated on social media. After these events, the Prosecutor issued a second arrest warrant on 4 July 2018. The ICC calls on General Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), to facilitate Mr. Al-Werfalli’s immediate surrender to the ICC.
ICC staff detained
On 7 June 2012, four ICC staff members were detained in Zintan, Libya, while undertaking a mission authorized by ICC judges and approved by the interim Libyan government to visit Saif Gaddafi. The four were released on 2 July 2012. The four were released on 2 July 2012.
