21.12.11 - ICC/LIBYA - HRW REQUESTS LIBYA TO ENSURE GADDAFI SON'S ACCESS TO A LAWYER

The Hague, December 21, 2011 (FH) - In a written statement released from Tripoli on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said that Libyan authorities should allow Saif al-Islam to meet a lawyer.

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On December 18, a representative of HRW had a 30 minutes private meeting with Gaddafi's son in Zintan (South of Libya), where he has been incarcerated since his arrest on November 19.

Saif al-Islam said he had no complaints about his physical treatment. "His main concern was the lack of access to family and to a lawyer", HRW's special adviser Fred Abrahams explained. "Libya should prove that it will grant Gaddafi all the rights that were too often denied in the past", he added.

Libya's General Prosecutor Abdelaziz Al-Hasadi told HRW that he would allow Saif al-Islam to access a lawyer as soon as the government prepared a " secure detention facility in Tripoli where he could be held without risk of attack".

The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam for crimes against humanity committed in Libya starting on February 15. However, the National Transitional Council (NTC) declared that they want to try him in Libya. If Libya wishes to try Gaddafi domestically for crimes within the ICC's arrest warrant, it must show to the judges that it is able to prosecute him «  in fair and credible proceedings ».

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