ICC Requests Arrest Warrants For Gaddafi

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court will today ask judges in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for three senior members of the Libyan regime.

There are concerns the arrest warrants could back the leader into a corner

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is widely expected to be one of the people named.

The other two are thought to be the leader's son Saif al Islam, once seen as a moderate successor to his father, and Abdullah al Senussi who is the Libyan regime's head of espionage.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is due to file a 74-page document with nine annexes.

It outlines allegations of systematic attacks against civilians by Col Gaddafi's forces since February.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo says he had concluded "there was enough evidence to present a request for arrest warrants for the commission of two categories" - crimes against humanity and persecution.

"The Office collected good and solid evidence to identify who bears the greatest responsibility; no political responsibilities but rather individual criminal responsibilities for crimes committed in Libya," he said.

Saif al Islam was once seen as his father's likely successor

The ICC has catalogued the allegations in just two-and-a-half months.

It has reviewed more than 1,200 documents, studied video and photographs and conducted interviews.

The information will now be handed to three judges, from Brazil, Italy and Botswana, in 'Chamber 1' of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

They are expected to uphold the prosecutors charges against the three individuals, but any announcement could take several months.

Sources close to Col Gaddafi have expressed irritation that the ICC prosecutors team did not visit the country as part of their investigation.

But the ICC have defended their work. A spokeswoman explained why they had not conducted any research in Libya.

"We did not go to Libya because we did not want to put any witnesses at risk in Libya," a spokeswoman said.

"Once we see someone, we have a duty to protect them."

It is not yet at all clear how any potential arrests could be carried out or how they could affect the conflict in Libya.

The ICC was built on the 1988 Rome Statute. It states that the duty to arrest those named falls upon the national government in question.

However, given how long this conflict has now run, it seems unlikely that anyone within Col Gaddafi's inner circle will suddenly turn on the leader.

The arrests could be made by Nato, but this would require 'boots on the ground'.

Rebel fighters in the western area of Zintan

That could only happen after another UN resolution, which China and Russia would probably veto.

None of the Nato countries taking part in the action against Libya have shown any desire to send in ground troops.

There is a hope that the issuing of the warrants will encourage those close to Col Gaddafi to defect for fear of arrest themselves.

But it could also back the dictator into a corner. It could complicate the possibility of a deal in which he accepts exile as a way to end the conflict.