Mike Corder reports: "The International Criminal Court prosecutor at The Hague on Monday requested arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son Seif Islam Kadafi and his intelligence chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity."
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. (photo: Reuters)
Hague Prosecutor Seeks Indictment of Gadhafi for War Crimes
16 May 11
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he International Criminal Court prosecutor asked judges Monday to issue arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and two other senior members of his regime, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity by targeting civilians in a crackdown against rebels.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo says Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam Gadhafi and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi ordered, planned and participated in illegal attacks.
He said Gadhafi's forces attacked civilians in their homes, shot at demonstrators with live ammunition, shelled funeral processions and deployed snipers to kill people leaving mosques.
Judges must now evaluate the evidence before deciding whether to confirm the charges and issue international arrest warrants.
"The case is now in their hands," Moreno-Ocampo told reporters at a press conference.
The warrants are not expected to have any immediate impact on the war in Libya, but they could make it harder for their targets to end the conflict by going into exile. Because the Security Council ordered the ICC investigation, all UN member states would be obliged to arrest him if he ventures into their territory.
Moreno-Ocampo said he had evidence of Gadhafi issuing orders, his son organizing the recruitment of mercenaries and of Al-Sanousi's direct involvement in attacks on demonstrators.
Moreno-Ocampo said that the persecution is continuing in areas under Gadhafi's control.
"Gaddafi's forces prepare lists with names of alleged dissidents. They are being arrested, put into prisons in Tripoli, tortured and made to disappear," he said.
"These are not just crimes against Libyans, they are crimes against humanity as a whole," he added.
Moreno-Ocampo said he was continuing investigations into allegations of mass rapes and war crimes "committed by different parties during the armed conflict" and attacks on sub-Saharan Africans wrongly perceived to be mercenaries.
"There will be no impunity for such crimes in Libya," said the Prosecutor.
Moreno-Ocampo says his team has gathered so much evidence that he is almost ready to go to trial.
Even if Gadhafi flees Libya, some nations have refused to act on arrest warrants. Three countries have let Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visit without arresting him. Al-Bashir has been indicted for crimes including genocide in Darfur in the only other International Criminal Court case ordered by the Security Council.
The Libyan conflict appears largely stalemated, with each side claiming gains one day, only to be turned back the next, despite NATO air strikes aimed at supporting rebels. Gadhafi has vowed to fight to the death.
The head of Britain's armed forces, Gen. David Richards, in remarks published in The Sunday Telegraph in London, urged NATO to widen the range of targets the alliance's planes are allowed to hit in the effort to stymie the Gadhafi's regime's attacks on protesters.
Richards declared that "more intense military action" was needed or the conflict could end in stalemate.
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Who cares about this issue. Style in clothes always pushes some boundaries. It often represents some "statement" that someone wants to make. So Florida is going to outlaw some styles now but not others. The clothes police will be out in full force, cracking the heads of kids who wear their pants a little too low.
In the past, there have been attempts to outlaw short skirts on women. They said it was indecent or some nonsense. These prudes like Councilwoman Mary Rich just need to get laid. That would give her something else to think about. If she does not like seeing people's underwear, then don't look at it. Why is she staring at men's underwear anyway?
Thank god I will never have to go to Florida (or Mississippi).
No, just see her for what she is: a woman with too much power who can negatively affect the lives of young - yes, usually black - men.
Bu I can't help but smile at the image of Florida senior men who wear their pants practically up to their chins! (Remember the Martin Short character of many years ago?) No one is making their clothing choices illegal.
Right on.
Don't these people have bigger fish to fry, like more jobs at good wages in Ocala. Let their precious free market fix this.
Low pants are not a uniform for the average job except maybe in WalMart. That store is full of ass-cracks and very few teeth.
There are real threats to public safety that needs to be enforced no matter how stupid you might find somebody is dressed ! ! What is next excessive tattoos piercing shaven heads Mohawks and pink and orange hair or long hair or miss mated socks or T-shirts with holes being ticketed as well Maybe going after leather or wearing white after labor day . Everybody is going wear something somebody finds stupid.!
many levels
Besides, it's good for us older folks to keep up to date with the fashions in patterns for underwear fabrics. They're lots more lively than what us old guys wear in the way of golf and fishing shirts -- at least here in Orlando (but maybe things are different up north in Ocala).
How many of you went through a Hippy tie-dye disheveled-hair spell, the Beatles hair, suits winkle-pickers, or the Carnaby Street "Twiggy" look, Dreadlocks and bags, the ghastly "Disco-plastic" trend of the 80's, Afros, or further back, the drainpipe, Ducks-arse "Teddy-boy" trend of the early-rock late 50's and the "Angry young Beatnik" alternative of the same era.
Most were in "dubious" taste in their time but were in truth, statements of resistance to conformity, imposed tastes and mores of the post WW11 "square" powers, Cold War/McCarthy era fear-mongering and doomsday scenario which our leaders chose to visit on their populaces.
I suspect that these kids are giving the corrupt, often stupid and almost invariably self-serving makers of laws and dictators of lifestyle in the dominant, PC, bland Corporate/milit ary culture that squeezes the life out of everything creative, the vertical finger!
We don't HAVE to like it!
Best comment of the day...
excuse me a sec,,, "Hey Kid !!! get off my lawn"