Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will not get fair trial, says lawyer

THE son of Muammar Gaddafi will not get a fair trial in Libya, an International Criminal Court lawyer who was detained in Libya has said.Melinda Taylor made the comments days after she was released from detention after meeting Saif al-Islam in the town of Zintan.She said it was impossible for the 39-year-old to be tried in an “independent and impartial manner” in Libya.Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity.But Libyan authorities have insisted that he should be tried at home rather than in The Hague.Ms Taylor was freed on Monday after being held for more than three weeks in Libya on suspicion of spying, along with three colleagues.Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Ms Taylor said that her actions in Libya were “consistent with my legal obligations” under ICC rules.“Irrespective of any issues concerning my own personal conduct, the rights of my client, Mr Saif al-Islam, were irrevocably prejudiced during my visit,” she said.She said recent events had “completely underscored that it will be impossible for Mr Gaddafi to be tried in an independent and impartial manner in Libyan courts”.Saif al-Islam, who was once expected to suceed his father, was arrested in November, three months after anti-government forces overran the capital, Tripoli.Ms Taylor, an Australian, and her interpreter from Lebanon, Helen Assaf, had been part of a team sent to prepare Saif al-Islam’s defence.They were held by militia in Zintan on suspicion of endangering national security. Their two other colleagues, Russian Alexander Khodakov and Spaniard Esteban Peralta Losilla, remained with them out of solidarity. They are still scheduled to appear before a court in Tripoli on 23 July for a final ruling on their case, a senior member of the Libyan attorney-general’s office told the BBC.