Libyan leaders may face UN arrest warrants for war crimes

[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Guardian. It reads in part:]

Senior Libyan officials face international arrest warrants for crimes against humanity, the United Nations security council will be told today.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is to brief the council about crimes committed by Muammar Gaddafi's forces since the Libyan uprising began in mid-February.

Western diplomats say the move is intended to ratchet up international pressure on Tripoli. Ocampo revealed that up to five warrants are likely to be issued in the next few weeks with the approval of the ICC's pre-trial chamber.

No names have been disclosed. But Al-Arabiya TV reported that the warrants could include Gaddafi himself and his son, the discredited reformist Saif al-Islam, who has strong UK links. It said others being targeted include Libya's former foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, who defected to the UK, and Abu Zeyd Omar Dorda, director general of the Libyan External Security Organisation.

[Both Moussa Koussa and Omar Dorda were heavily involved in the international manoeuvrings that led to the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist. At the time, Dorda was Libyan Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and it was through him and the then UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Hans Corell that problems arising from the terms of the August 1998 UK/US proposal for the Scottish Court in the Netherlands were ironed out. After the trial took place, Dorda played little part in Lockerbie affairs and, in particular, as far as I could see, had no role in the events leading up to Abdelbaset Megrahi's repatriation.

A report on the BBC News website can be read here.]