The Attorney General of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has been visiting Libya since last Saturday. He started by going to the city of Tarhouna, where mass graves containing more than 300 bodies were discovered in the summer of 2020. This visit is part of investigations into crimes committed in Libya, according to the ICC , and the prosecutor met in Tarhouna, the families of the victims.
This is the first visit by an ICC prosecutor general to Libya in ten years. Karim Khan spoke with several political leaders, including the Minister of Justice and the military attorney general in Tripoli. On Tuesday, he went to Benghazi, met Marshal Haftar, but nothing filtered out of the meeting.
The Prosecutor General of the ICC will report this Wednesday, November 09, from Tripoli, on the situation in Libya to the UN Security Council.
Former lawyer of Seif al-Islam
The International Criminal Court has been investigating for several years crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Libya as well as on human rights violations suffered by migrants.
Before taking the helm of this international institution, Karim Khan had defended Seifal-Islam Gaddafi still being prosecuted for crimes against humanity by the ICC. Gaddafi’s son, tried and then granted amnesty in Libya, has still not been handed over to the International Criminal Court.
This visit, however, raises the concern of some Libyan parties. They fear that this stay will be politicized, especially if the decisions taken are likely to prevent certain officials from running in the next elections.