ICC confirms charges against former Libyan prison official

A former Libyan prison official will stand trial at the International Criminal Court after judges confirmed 17 charges including murder, rape and torture.

ICC prosecutors accuse Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, 48, of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed at Mitiga prison near Tripoli between February 2015 and early 2020. Prosecutors have described him as a notorious torturer.

At hearings in May, ICC deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan quoted one witness as saying El Hishri was among the worst instigators of violence, and another as saying he was nicknamed the Angel of Death.

Khan alleged that El Hishri shot people, especially in the leg and knee, and also hung people with their hands tied behind their backs and beat people with a shovel. The prosecutor said the suspect personally raped, murdered and tortured prisoners as an example to other guards.

El Hishri's defence lawyer, Yasser Mohamed Ahmed Hassan, told judges during the May hearings that his client denied the allegations and challenged the court's jurisdiction. Judges rejected that challenge on Wednesday, clearing the way for the charges to be confirmed.

After the charges were confirmed, Khan called for the trial to take place quickly. She said it would be the first trial to come from the UN-mandated ICC investigation into Libya, which began in 2011. No trial date has been set.

Khan said the case brought the court closer to delivering justice for thousands of victims who she said were unlawfully arrested, detained and subjected to severe suffering in Mitiga prison.

Libya is still dealing with the aftermath of the armed conflict and political chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. The country remains divided between a UN-recognised government in the west and an eastern rival backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar.

The ICC tries individuals accused of the gravest international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.