Gaddafi's son attends pre-trial session in Libya's Zintan

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, made a rare appearance on Thursday in a court in Libya's Zintan, west of capital Tripoli on security charges. A source in the court told Xinhua that the Zintan Court has postponed the trial against al-Islam, Gaddafi's second-eldest son and the only son of the former president in custody in the country, to Dec. 12, 2013, in order to allow the presence of another six defendants in the trial. Al-Islam was supposed to be transferred to Tripoli Criminal Court to stand trial, however, the militia group in control of the town had refused to hand him over due to security concerns. Meanwhile, 37 other Gaddafi-era officials attended a pre-trial session Thursday in Tripoli over crimes committed during the 2011 uprising, including former spy chief Abdallah Al- Senussi and Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, the last prime minister under Gaddafi's administration. An official source of Tripoli Court told Xinhua that Senussi denied all charges against him, saying "I have evidence to prove my innocence of the charges against me." The source added that all defendants left the Court compound from the main gate, while Senussi was driven out by the security forces from another gate to avoid the protesters outside the court. The statement of the Libyan prosecutor is due to be released later in the day.