Judges at the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for war crimes and crimes against humanity on Monday, the 100th day of a NATO bombing campaign.
Britain, which has led the UN-mandated international effort to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, hailed the court's decision and said members of the Libyan regime should now abandon him.
Italy said the decision of the three-judge court, set up in 2002 to try war crimes, confirmed that Gaddafi had lost all 'moral legitimacy' and could have 'no role in the future of his country.'
And French foreign minister Alain Juppe said the warrant 'confirms that the question is not whether Gaddafi should leave power, but when he will leave power.'
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had
sought the warrants for Gaddafi, 69, his son Seif al-Islam, 39, and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, 62, for murder and persecution since mid-February, when the bloody uprising started.
All three are charged over their roles in suppressing the revolt, in which civilians were murdered and persecuted by Libyan forces, particularly in Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata, the prosecutor said.
Thousands have so far died in the fighting, while around 650,000 others fled the country. Another 243,000 Libyans have been displaced internally, according to UN figures.
Moreno-Ocampo said on Sunday that the war crimes in Libya will not stop until Gaddafi is arrested.
'Crimes continue today in Libya. To stop the crimes and protect civilians in Libya, Gaddafi must be arrested.'
The prosecutor will give his response to the decision on Tuesday.
The only other warrant issued by the ICC for a sitting head of state, for Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir in March 2009, has yet to be served. Bashir was due to begin a state visit to China later Monday.
Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said: 'These individuals are accused of crimes against humanity and should be held to account before judges in a criminal court,' he said, calling on the Libyan government to cooperate with the investigation.
'Individuals throughout the regime should abandon Gaddafi.'
And NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said arrest warrant shows that time is running out for the increasingly isolated Libyan leader.
'This decision once again highlights the increasing isolation of the Gaddafi regime,' he said in a statement.
'It reinforces the reason for NATO's mission to protect the Libyan people from Gaddafi's forces. Gaddafi and his henchmen need to realise that time is rapidly running out for them,' he added.
The head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, meanwhile told a news conference in the rebel capital of Benghazi that 'justice had been done,' while rebel justice minister Mohammed Al-Allagy told reporters outside the ICC: 'We are going to arrest them.'
Al-Allagy said: 'First arrest them, we will decide afterwards where to prosecute them.'
In his submission, Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing 'a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents in particular.'
'Gaddafi's plan expressly included the use of lethal force against demonstrators and dissidents,' the submission said.
The Libyan strongman also ordered sniping at civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers. His forces carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and detention of alleged dissidents, it said.
'Gaddafi's plans were carried out through his inner circle, which included Seif al-Islam, Gaddafi's de-facto prime minister and his brother-in-law Al-Senussi, considered to be his right-hand man,' the submission said.
Moreno-Ocampo's investigation follows a referral by the United Nations Security Council on the Libyan conflict on February 26. The prosecutor's office launched its investigation five days later. On May 16, Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for the warrants.
The ICC is the world's only permanent, treaty-based court set up to try those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide if the accussed's own country cannot or will not do so.
NATO meanwhile said it was hitting around 50 targets a day and that its 'Operation Unified Protector' was approaching its 5,000th strike sortie.
The air strikes appear to have helped the rebels launch an offensive of their own against Gaddafi's forces. However, only in Nafusa does the rebel army of ill-equipped irregulars and defectors appear to be making any sustained progress.
Source : New Age
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