ICC Rejects Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi’s Request to Drop Charges against him

AP file photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi
AP file photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi
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ICC Rejects Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi’s Request to Drop Charges against him

AP file photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi
AP file photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has rejected a request made by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi ­- son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - for an international arrest warrant against him to be ruled inadmissible.

Bensouda, delivering her latest six-monthly statement to the Security Council on the situation in Libya, said that her office maintains that Gaddafi must be arrested and surrendered to the Court.

Gaddafi has argued that, because of ongoing domestic proceedings conducted against him in Libya, he cannot be tried at the ICC.

In the international warrant, issued by the ICC in June 2011, Gaddafi is accused of playing a key role in planning the suppression of civilian demonstrations by any means, including lethal force, against his father’s regime, said Bensouda.

She added that Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al‑Werfalli, a commander in the Al-Saiqua Brigade, and Al‑Tuhamy Mohamed Khaled, the former head of the Libyan internal security agency, also remain at large.

Bensouda warned that "in the absence of accountability, impunity will continue to reign in Libya, causing great suffering and instability.”

Investigations indicate that Gaddafi and Al-Werfalli remain in Libya, while Al-Tuhami is outside the country.

The ICC Prosecutor also told the Council that her office “continues to monitor criminal conduct carried out by members of armed groups in Libya who use violence to exert control over State institutions, commit serious human rights violations and exploit detainees in unregulated prisons and places of detention throughout the country.”

She said her office “continued to receive evidence of alleged crimes committed against migrants transiting through Libya, including killings, sexual violence, torture and enslavement.”



Nasrallah’s Bodyguard Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Iran, Hezbollah Says

A supporter of Hezbollah carries a picture of Hezbollah's late leader Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against the Israeli attack on Iran, organized by Hezbollah following Friday prayer in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, 20 June 2025. (EPA)
A supporter of Hezbollah carries a picture of Hezbollah's late leader Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against the Israeli attack on Iran, organized by Hezbollah following Friday prayer in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, 20 June 2025. (EPA)
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Nasrallah’s Bodyguard Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Iran, Hezbollah Says

A supporter of Hezbollah carries a picture of Hezbollah's late leader Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against the Israeli attack on Iran, organized by Hezbollah following Friday prayer in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, 20 June 2025. (EPA)
A supporter of Hezbollah carries a picture of Hezbollah's late leader Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against the Israeli attack on Iran, organized by Hezbollah following Friday prayer in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, 20 June 2025. (EPA)

The head of security to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike while in Iran, a Hezbollah official said Saturday.

Abu Ali Khalil, better known as Abu Ali Jawad, was killed after he went to Iran from neighboring Iraq, the official said.

For many years, Abu Ali was seen behind Nasrallah during most of his public appearances.

After Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a Beirut suburb in September, his bodyguard was put in charge of his tomb in Beirut.

The Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the airstrike that killed Abu Ali occurred earlier Saturday.