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STORY: UN / LIBYA
TRT: 2.25
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 14 NOVEMBER 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
14 NOVEMBER 2013, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Fatou B. Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court:
“It is fundamentally important for this Council to equally remind and urge the Libyan Government to comply with the decisions of the Chamber even when they are inauspicious to the position advanced by the Government. I stress the critical importance for all States to respect and implement the decisions of the Court’s judges. The obligation to surrender to the Court persons against whom arrest warrants have been issued must be respected. Political considerations have no place in law, impartially and independently applied. I strongly urge the Government of Libya to surrender Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to the Court without further delay.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations:
“We have no doubt that Libya, pursuant to resolution 1970 will comply with the decisions of the ICC judges. Respect by Libya of its international obligations in a key indication of its commitment to the rule of law.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Dabbashi, Permanent Representative of Libya to the United Nations:
“No government, regardless of how popular it is, can accept a trial that would take place outside of Libya, because that would then destabilize social peace, which is quite precarious and indeed it might constitute a threat to the lives of the perpetrators of these crimes. The Libyan judiciary has begun trials against there two perpetrators, al-Senussi and al-Qadhafi, and it is clear that the international criteria for justice will be respected, be it in the Qadhafi affair or that of his accomplices, including al-Senussi .”
9. Med shot, delegates
10. Wide shot, Security Council
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today (14 November) strongly urged the Libyan Government to surrender Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to the Court “without further delay.”
Fatou Bensouda told the Security Council that it was “fundamentally important for this Council to equally remind and urge the Libyan Government to comply with the decisions of the Chamber even when they are inauspicious to the position advanced by the Government.”
Bensouda stressed “the critical importance for all States to respect and implement the decisions of the Court’s judges” and said “the obligation to surrender to the Court persons against whom arrest warrants have been issued must be respected.”
She added that “political considerations have no place in law, impartially and independently applied”
Gaddafi is the former leader’s son, and has been indicted by the ICC in relation to attacks against protesters and rebels during the 2011 uprising.
Bensouda pointed out that here are many others who are alleged to have committed crimes and/or who continue to commit crimes in Libya since February 2011.
The Prosecutor, while welcoming gains such as the draft law that would make rape during armed conflict a war crime in Libya, also voiced great concern that thousands of detainees remain in uncertain conditions in the country, with multiple and apparently well-founded allegations of torture and even killings in detention having been reported.
French Ambassador Gérard Araud said there was “no doubt that Libya, pursuant to resolution 1970 will comply with the decisions of the ICC judges” and added that “respect by Libya of its international obligations in a key indication of its commitment to the rule of law.”
France largely led NATO’s military intervention in Libya in 2011.
For his part, Libyan Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said “no government, regardless of how popular it is, can accept a trial that would take place outside of Libya, because that would then destabilize social peace, which is quite precarious and indeed it might constitute a threat to the lives of the perpetrators of these crimes.”
Dabbashi said “the Libyan judiciary has begun trials against there two perpetrators, al-Senussi and al-Qadhafi, and it is clear that the international criteria for justice will be respected, be it in the Qadhafi affair or that of his accomplices, including al-Senussi.”
In the case of former senior intelligence official Abdullah Al-Senussi, who is was also indicted for alleged crimes against humanity, the ICC had decided last month that he could be tried in Libya by the national authorities.
