ICC will decide Monday on arrest warrant for Gaddafi
International Criminal Court judges will on Monday decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moamer Gadaffi for crimes against humanity, the court said on its website.
The ICC prosecution has requested three arrest warrants for Gadaffi, his son Seif al-Islam and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, the court said.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo opened an inquiry into Libya on March 3. He has said that Gadaffi personally ordered attacks against unarmed civilians and held meetings with his son and intelligence chief "to plan and manage the operations".
A public hearing will be held at the court on Monday at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT).
Moreno Ocampo said in a recent interview that he hoped the arrest warrants would be issued soon.
"We are working on the assumption he (Gadaffi) will be arrested by his people, by members of his regime" and if "that is not possible by the (rebel) National Transitional Council," he told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo on June 12.
Libya's deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaaim retorted that Tripoli was "not concerned" by ICC decisions since it was not a party to the Rome Statute that founded the ICC.
But Moreno Ocampo argued that Libya is bound to cooperate with the court as demanded by a UN Security Council resolution adopted on February 26.
And he maintained that Libya would be legally required to act on the arrest warrants if they are approved by the ICC judges.
Established in 2002, the ICC is the world's first permanent, treaty-based court set up to try those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide if the accused's own country cannot or will not do so.
The uprising against the Gadaffi regime which began in February has led to thousands of deaths, the ICC prosecutor said. Nearly 750,000 people have fled the country, according to the UN.
Back to the wall...
Meanwhile in Tripoli, Gadaffi said he would not give up his battle, even though he had his "back to the wall" he did not fear death.
"We will resist and the battle will continue to the beyond, until you're wiped out. But we will not be finished," Gadaffi said in an audio message broadcast on Libyan television late on Wednesday.
At the same time NATO, which launched air strikes on Libya to stop the assault by Gadaffi's forces on civilians and support the rebels, insisted there would be no let-up in its air war despite Italian calls for a cessation.
Time is running out...
British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Gadaffi that time was running out for him.
"Time is on our side, time is not on the side of Colonel Gadaffi who's losing his leading military commanders," said Cameron in Prague.
"The sands of time are running out for him, and so we need to be patient and persistent," he added.
Source: AFP
Lead photo - B.R.Q. on flickr.com - all further use subject to this CC licence