THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for a Libyan National Army (LNA)commander accused over the alleged execution of dozens of prisoners.

Prosecutors at the world’s permanent war crimes court are seeking Mahmoud al-Werfalli’s hand-over to face charges of murder during the armed conflict in Libya.

According to the ICC, Werfalli “is alleged to have directly committed and to have ordered the commission of murder as a war crime” during seven incidents, involving 33 persons in June and July 2017 in and near Benghazi.

The LNA, which controls the eastern part of Libya, has been pushing to expand its presence in the central and southern part of the country where it has been vying for control with forces linked to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli and other groups.

The United Nations called for the LNA to suspend Werfalli after a video in March allegedly showed Werfalli shooting dead three men who were kneeling and facing a wall with their hands tied behind their backs.

The LNA said it would investigate any potential war crimes but has not released any details of such a probe.

In June, two further videos appeared to show summary executions carried out by LNA fighters on his orders.

The ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes in Libya after a referral by the United Nations Security Council in 2011 and has been investigating alleged atrocities there.</s>Mahmoud al-Werfalli 'allegedly responsible for murder as a war crime' in the deaths of 33 people in eastern Libya.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for a senior Libyan military commander allied with Khalifa Haftar suspected of involvement in the deaths of 33 people in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Haftar is the controversial chief of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), which now controls key Libyan oil ports.

Libya descended into chaos following the 2011 civil war that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, and the country is now split between rival governments and militias.

The document by the Hague-based tribunal, seen by Al Jazeera on Tuesday, says: "Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli [is] allegedly responsible for murder as a war crime in the context of the non-international armed conflict in Libya."

READ MORE: Libya mired in culture of impunity

The murders were committed "in seven incidents, taking place from on or before 3 June 2016 until on or about 17 July 2017, in Benghazi or surrounding areas", the warrant said.

Werfalli allegedly personally shot or ordered the execution of people who were either civilians or injured fighters.

"There is no information in the evidence to show that they have been afforded a trial by a legitimate court, whether military or otherwise, that would comport to any recognised standard of due process," the ICC's judges said.

The charges are backed up by recordings of witness interviews, video material and other evidence, the warrant said.

One video footage purportedly shows Werfalli shooting a hooded and unarmed person and afterwards telling the dead body: "You have been misled by he who did you harm. You have been misled by Satan."

In another incident, Werfalli is allegedly seen in video footage reading from a document before personally commanding a firing squad which then shoots 15 people wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, the ICC's judges said.

"After reading the document Mr Al-Werfalli says ...'Ready! Aim! Fire!," the judges said, after which the executioners shoot the prisoners in three groups of five.

Al-Werfalli and two other men then allegedly personally execute three people, before he orders the execution of yet another two others.

"The video depicting the incident, involving a total 20 executed persons, was posted on social media on 23 July 2017," the judges said.

Fatou Bensouda, ICC's chief prosecutor, called on Libyan authorities to arrest and hand over Werfalli to ensure his surrender to the ICC "without delay".

"Such egregious crimes, including the cruel and dehumanising manner by which they were perpetrated against helpless victims, must be stopped," she said.

In a statement, Heba Morayef, director of Amnesty International's North Africa Research, said the ICC's decision was "a significant step towards ending the rampant impunity for war crimes in Libya".

"The Libyan authorities must urgently comply with this arrest warrant and hand [Werfalli] over to the ICC to face his accusers in a fair trial," she said.

"This warrant sends a clear message that those who commit or order horrendous crimes are not above the law and will not go unpunished."

Werfalli, born in 1978, is a senior commander in the Saiqa Brigade, which defected from the Libyan armed forces after the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi.

He joined the Saiqa Brigade after Gaddafi's fall and has "played a commanding role since at least 2015", the ICC's judges said in the arrest warrant.

Since then, the Saiqa Brigade has been battling alongside forces loyal to Haftar in Benghazi.

Haftar is a dominant figure for factions in eastern Libya that have rejected the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), contributing to its failure to expand its power in the capital, Tripoli, and beyond.

Libya's eastern-based parliament, the House of Representatives, is rivals to the GNA and allied with Haftar.</s>International judges issued a war crimes arrest warrant Tuesday against a senior Libyan military commander, suspected of involvement in the deaths of 33 people in the war-torn city of Benghazi.

"The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant of arrest for Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, allegedly responsible for murder as a war crime in the context of the non-international armed conflict in Libya," the Hague-based tribunal said in a statement.

Al-Werfalli, born in 1978, is a senior commander in the Al-Saiqa brigade, an elite unit which defected from the Libyan National Army after the uprising against longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

He joined the brigade after Kadhafi's fall and has "played a commanding role since at least 2015," the ICC's judges said in the arrest warrant.

Since then, the brigade has been battling alongside forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, which has recently been liberated after a three-year campaign against jihadist groups.

Al-Werfalli is accused of involvement in at least seven incidents in 2016 and 2017 in which he allegedly personally shot or ordered the execution of people who were either civilians or injured fighters.

"There is no information in the evidence to show that they have been afforded a trial by a legitimate court, whether military or otherwise, that would comport to any recognised standard of due process," the ICC's judges said.

The evidence included video footage purportedly showing Al-Werfalli shooting a hooded and unarmed person and afterwards telling the dead body: "You have been misled by he who did you harm. You have been misled by Satan."

In another incident, Al-Werfalli is allegedly seen in video footage reading from a document before personally commanding a firing squad which then shoots 15 people wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, the ICC's judges said.

"After reading the document Mr Al-Werfalli says...'Ready! Aim! Fire!," the judges said, after which the executioners shoot the prisoners in three groups of five.

Al-Werfalli and two other men then allegedly personally execute three people, before he orders the execution of yet another two others.

"The video depicting the incident, involving a total 20 executed persons, was posted on social media on 23 July 2017," the judges said.

The ICC's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called on Libyan authorities to arrest and hand over Al-Werfalli to ensure his surrender to the ICC "without delay".

"Such egregious crimes, including the cruel and dehumanising manner by which they were perpetrated against helpless victims, must be stopped," Bensouda said.

But Tuesday's announcement comes as the court is still in a legal tug-of-war with Libyan authorities to transfer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam to The Hague.

The ICC and Libyan authorities are disputing who has the right to judge him.

Seif faces crimes against humanity charges for his own role in the Kadhafi regime's brutal attempts to put down the 2011 uprising which eventually toppled his father.

The Kadhafi heir's exact whereabouts are unknown, following a claim in June by a Zintan-based militia that it had freed Seif under an amnesty law promulgated by the parliament based in Libya's east.

The ICC, set up to investigate and prosecute the world's worst crimes, opened its probe into Libya in March 2011 to investigate atrocities committed during the uprising against Kadhafi, which erupted a month earlier.

The investigation comes after the UN Security Council referred the matter to the ICC.

Libya was then still under the iron-fisted rule of Kadhafi, who was killed a few months later by rebels in the NATO-backed uprising.

Political rivalries and fighting between militias have hampered Libya's efforts to recover from the chaos that followed the uprising in the oil-rich country.
The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant against Mahmoud al-Werfalli for the war crime of murder following the circulation of several videos in which he appears to oversee the execution of over 30 prisoners.