A Libyan at the ICC

Finally. A Libyan national was transferred on Monday 1 December to the International Criminal Court (ICC), nearly fifteen years after the Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the Court to prosecute serious crimes committed there. Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, former head of Mitiga prison, who was arrested in Germany last July, arrived in The Hague on the opening day of the Assembly of States Parties. This brings to six the number of people in detention at the ICC, two of whom are awaiting trial.

Mitiga prison in Libya
Many accounts and reports describe the hellish conditions in detention centres run by militias in Libya. Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri is accused by the ICC of having run one of them, the Mitiga prison, located in the capital Tripoli.

The International Criminal Court said Monday it had taken into custody a Libyan militia leader suspected of overseeing murder, torture, and rape at the notorious Mitiga prison near Tripoli.

The court said that Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, arrested in Germany in July, was now in the ICC detention centre in The Hague to await his first appearance before judges.

El Hishri faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity during his alleged time as a senior official at the prison, where "thousands were detained for long periods," the ICC said.

An initial appearance will be scheduled in due course for El Hishri, the court said in a statement.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, he was arrested at Berlin airport in July as he attempted to fly to Tunis.

He remained in German custody while legal proceedings were being completed.

Oil-rich Libya is still grappling with the aftermath of the armed conflict and political chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

The country remains divided between a United Nations-recognised government in the west and its eastern rival, backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar.

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