AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -German authorities have arrested a Libyan war crimes suspect accused of being a senior official for a notorious prison where inmates were routinely tortured and sometimes sexually
Libyan War Crimes Suspect Khaled Al Hishri Arrested in Germany
By Stephanie van den Berg
THE HAGUE (Reuters) -German authorities have arrested a Libyan war crimes suspect accused of being a senior official for a notorious prison where inmates were routinely tortured and sometimes sexually abused, the International Criminal Court said on Friday.
Khaled Mohamed Ali Al Hishri was arrested on Wednesday, German authorities said. The ICC said he would remain in German custody, pending the completion of national proceedings.
Prosecutors at the ICC accuse Al Hishri of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape from February 2015 until early 2020, a period during which he was allegedly one of the most senior officials in the Mitiga prison.
According to the prosecution, Mitiga prison was the largest detention facility in western Libya, where thousands of detainees were held in cramped cells without basic hygiene and were systematically subjected to brutal interrogations and torture.
Men and women held there also faced sexual violence including rape, the prosecution said.
It is a critical time for the ICC.
Its prosecutor and four judges are facing U.S. sanctions in retaliation for an arrest warrant it issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. A number of European ICC member states, including Germany, have also been critical of the warrant for Netanyahu.
In January, Italy arrested another Libyan ICC suspect, Osama Elmasry Njeem, but released him back to Tripoli saying the arrest warrant contained mistakes and inaccuracies. Njeem was also accused of crimes committed against detainees in Mitiga prison. His release sparked outrage among Italian opposition parties and triggered a legal investigation into Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and several other government members.
The court has been investigating allegations of serious crimes committed in Libya since the country's 2011 civil war, following a referral by the UN Security Council.
(Reporting by Stephanie Van Berg, additional reporting by Kirsti Knolle in Berlin ; Editing by Makini Brice, Alison Williams and Joe Bavier)
