Seif Al-Islam trial not decided

The International Criminal Court said on Monday it had not decided whether Seif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, should be tried in Libya, contradicting earlier comments by a Libyan minister. "Libya applied Friday to the ICC for Saif to be tried in a Libyan court. The ICC accepted," Libyan Justice Minister Ali Khalifa Ashur earlier claimed. The ICC has given Libya a January 23 deadline to confirm whether and when it would surrender Seif Al-Islam and to give information about his mental and physical health. It also asked Libya to answer concerns, raised by activists, that Seif Al-Islam was being held incommunicado, without access to lawyers. ICC spokesman Fadi El-Abdallah said that the court had received information on Monday from Libya but declined to give details, saying it was confidential. An investigation into the son of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was yet to finish but his trial date would be announced when it had been completed, Ashur added. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Seif Al-Islam after prosecutors accused him and others of "crimes against humanity" with heavy involvement in the killing of protesters during the revolt that led to the ousting of his father in August last year.