Jurisdictional Conflicts between the International Criminal Court and a Municipal Court: A Case of Libya

One of the big buzzwords of 2011 in the international community would be the “Arab Spring” ― a wave of pro-democracy revolutions and uprisings that have taken place in several Arab countries since December 2010. The scent of revolution moved to Libya in mid-February 2011, and lasted throughout the year 2011. It is said that the capture of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan de facto Prime Minister and the son of Muammar Gaddafi, and Abdullah Al-Senussi, the former Head of Libyan Military Intelligence and the brother in law of Muarmmar Gaddafi, in the end of November 2011 has finally brought the Libyan uprising to its conclusion. The capture, however, has also brought up a latent issue of conflicts of jurisdiction between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the new Libyan government out into the open, because they all are wanted by both the ICC and Libya. The purpose of this paper is to study conflicts of jurisdiction between the ICC and Libya over Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi. The paper first examines the sources of jurisdictional conflicts in the present case. Then the paper discusses important issues involved here, and suggests some possible resolutions.