With last night’s extradition, Libya now has two sons of late dictator Muammar Qaddafi in custody. But its judicial system seems ill-prepared to dispense justice.
Last night Saadi Qaddafi, the son of the late Libyan dictator, reluctantly boarded a plane in Niger and flew home to Tripoli, reportedly in the custody of Libyan security agents. His extradition is both an achievement and a challenge for Libya, three years after the revolt that toppled Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.
Saadi Qaddafi is the latest of several fugitive former regime figures taken into Libyan custody. But it’s unclear whether Libya’s shaky government can ensure any of them fair and speedy trials.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague has said that after decades of Muammar Qaddafi’s corrosive and capricious rule, Libya remains too insecure and its court system too weak to guarantee that big fish suspects are properly investigated and tried.
