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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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 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 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.
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.