Libya and global justice

An absolute dictatorship and a civil war have razed Libya to the ground. The devastation wrought by the sinister regime of Muammar Gaddafi in the North African country stretches from the political and the economic, to the institutional. Among the attributes of the state that need to be restored, in what promises to be a long and painful task, of primary need is a legal system worthy of the name.

Libya has no such thing, in a country where for almost half a century supreme rule lay at the will of a despot and his inner circle. And yet despite this fundamental absence, and in contradiction of previous statements by the country's provisional leaders, everything indicates that Tripoli wants Saif al-Islam ? Gaddafi's son, who was recently captured, and who has been accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of The Hague ? to stand trial in Libya. Amid renewed pressure from different sources in Libya on Prime Minister designate Abdurrahim al-Kaib, the ICC prosecutor during a visit this week to Tripoli left this possibility open.

Moreno Ocampo said the ICC would not push to prosecute Gaddafi provided the Libyan authorities can offer sufficient guarantees. Libya, where the death penalty exists, is not a signatory of the ICC, which is recognized by 119 countries and which assigns preference to national courts to try political leaders who carried out atrocities while in power. The charges of crimes against humanity could be extended to include others such as corruption, misappropriation of public funds, torture and murder.

If he is not handed over to The Hague, as would be desirable, the trial of Saif al-Islam would represent a test by fire for Tripoli's professed respect for the rule of law. It cannot become an act of vengeance. Libya already has its own share of macabre excesses committed after the fall of Sirte against Muammar Gaddafi and those that had remained loyal to him. The ICC's involvement from the start by advising Libya, and when the case opens through the presence of its magistrates on Libyan soil, is the best way to guarantee that justice prevails in a case that could decisively light the way in the country's shadowy journey from subjugation.