Melinda Taylor Criticises Libya and the ICC Judges

Ms Taylor was reported by The Australian magazine saying the judges’ silence over the past six months has given Libya a “green light” to break the law again. She and fellow defence lawyer Xavier-Jean Keita have accused the ICC judges of “creating the impression” that the court had been pressured into a “behind-the-scenes deal to bargain away” the rights of their client, Seif  al -Islam.




In a submission to the judges, Ms Taylor said that through “its ongoing silence concerning fundamental violations of the rights of the defence, the chamber has failed to accord Mr Gaddafi the protection of the law.” The Tripoli Post reported.


Ms Taylor pointed out that there had ben no consequences for the Libyan authorities fortheir failure to bring Saif al-Islam to trial and that they had effectively  held 4 defence lawyers hostage in Zintan.She says the charges against them were trumped up.The Libyans insist that Ms Taylor had been arrested for attempting to pass documents to Saif al-Islam which threatened national security.

Neither the Libyans nor the ICC have provided full details of the documents that Ms Taylor attempted to pass to Saif al-Islam, The Libya Herald reported.

The attempt to have Saif al-Islam tried in the Hague  is now unlikely to succeed and there appears to be no final decison on whether Saif will be tried in Tripoli or whether Zintan will release him. Abdullah al-Senussi, Gaddafi's intellegence chief is also awaiting trial and is also wanted by the ICC.

If  the ICC judges give the goahead for Saif al Islam and Abdullah al Senussi to tried in Libya and the result is seen as less than fair the ICC will be further discredited.If they decide that Libya is unable to hold a fair trial and Libya goes ahead anyway the ICC risks loosing a great deal of credibility.