[JURIST] Representatives from the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] were reportedly meeting Monday with Libyan rebels to discuss turning over the son of Libyan leader Mummar Gaddafi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, to the court for prosecution. The ICC issued arrest warrants [JURIST report] for Muammar, Saif and Muammar’s brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi in June on charges of crimes against humanity. Saif’s capture was confirmed [Telegraph report] Sunday night by ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. He was reportedly captured when rebels took control of Tripoli. The whereabouts of Muammar and al-Sanussi are unknown.

The Libya conflict [JURIST backgrounder] has been ongoing since February. On Saturday, Libyan Prime Minister Al Baghdad Ali Al-Mahmoudi requested that the UN create a “high-level commission” to investigate alleged human rights abuses [JURIST report] by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) [official website]. Though NATO was mandated by the UN to use force in order to stop Muammar from fomenting violence upon Libyan citizens, the campaign has allegedly gone beyond the scope of protecting civilians and recently led to the death of 85 civilians in one night after NATO forces bombed a residential area supposedly housing a rebel command center. In June, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] decided to extend a mandate to an investigative panel instructing it to continue its investigation of human rights abuses in Libya, after it published a 92-page report [JURIST reports]. The report claims Libyan authorities have committed crimes against humanity such as acts constituting murder, imprisonment and other severe deprivations of physical liberties, torture, forced disappearances and rape “as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack.”

8/23/11 ~ A free Saif al-Islam Gaddafi appeared before foreign media Tuesday, and an ICC spokesperson said that the court had never received official confirmation of his capture [Reuters report].