The International Criminal Court prosecutor asked judges on Monday to issue arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi and two other senior members of his regime, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity by targeting civilians in a crackdown against rebels.
Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo said he was seeking warrants against Qadhafi as well as his son Seif al-Islam Qadhafi and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi. The three, he said, ordered, planned and participated in illegal attacks.
He said Qadhafi’s forces attacked civilians in their homes, shot at demonstrators protesting his 40 years of rule with live ammunition, shelled funeral processions and deployed snipers to kill people leaving mosques.
Judges must now evaluate the evidence before deciding whether to confirm the charges and issue international arrest warrants.
“The case is now in their hands,” Mr. Moreno-Ocampo told reporters at a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands.
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said he had no immediate comment.
Speaking before Mr. Moreno-Ocampo’s announcement, Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, said the threat of arrest warrants was not worth discussing.
He told reporters in Tripoli on Sunday that Qadhafi’s regime would “not show any attention to the decision,” adding that Libya did not recognize the jurisdiction of the international court. He said that most African countries also reject its rules.
Still, the arrest warrants — if they are issued — are seen in Libya as giving NATO more justification to target Mr. Qadhafi in its campaign of airstrikes. Arrest warrants also could complicate efforts to find a haven for Mr. Qadhafi as a part of any negotiated settlement to the Libyan crisis.
Because the United Nations Security Council ordered the ICC investigation, all U.N. member states would be obliged to arrest him if he ventures into their territory.
Asked why he has not launched similar investigations into other Arab uprisings, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said that no such action had been requested by the Security Council, as it was in the case of Libya.
