Libya has accepted the International Criminal Court’s authority to investigate alleged war crimes in the country, despite not being a signatory to the Rome Statute, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said Thursday.
"I strongly welcome the courage, the leadership and the decision by the Libyan authorities" to recognize the ICC's jurisdiction over possible war crimes and repression committed since 2011 until the end of 2027, Khan added.
In November 2022, ICC's Khan — the first chief prosecutor to visit Libya in a decade — said he had urged Haftar to prevent crimes by his troops.
"Military commanders must prevent, must repress and must punish crimes when they emerge," Khan said at the time.
Oil-rich Libya was split by rival administrations, one in the east, backed by putschist military commander Khalifa Haftar, and a U.N.-supported administration in the west, in the capital of Tripoli.
Libya's current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections in December 2021 and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who led a transitional government in Tripoli, to step down. In response, the country's east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
