Unitarian Univeralist UN Office (UU-UNO)

ICC in the News: Arrest Warrant Issued for Gaddafi (06/28/11)

Monday, judges at the International Criminal Court approved an arrest warrant for Moammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and another top lieutenant. The ruling stated there is “reasonable grounds” to charge the Libyan Leader and his two confidants with crimes against humanity in relation with this spring’s brutal crackdown against protestors.

Libya doesn’t accept the ICC’s jurisdiction, noted Justice Minister Mohammad al-Gamudi, who casually dismissed the charges. That, however, hasn’t stopped ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, from calling for Gaddafi’s aids to hand over the accused for trial.

Despite the court’s lack of immediate means of apprehending the Libyan leader, the ICC’s ruling is latest in a string of moves by the international community to isolate the embattled regime.

Within diplomatic and scholarly circles, the ICC’s latest move —only the second time the court has called for the arrest of a sitting head-of-state— has set off a debate over the Court’s utility. Many believe that knowledge of his impending prosecution at The Hague will make Gaddafi less likely to willfully relinquish power. Others, like Richard Dicker from Human Rights Watch, see the ICC’s latest move as “a jarring message to dictator elsewhere who thought they were beyond the reach of the law.”