Australian ICC lawyer Melinda Taylor detained in Libya over dangerous letters for Gaddafi's son

The Libyan militias in Zintan city holding the son of Muammar Gaddafi has arrested an Australian lawyer, Melinda Taylor, from the International Criminal Court ( ICC) after she was found to be carrying dangerous letters for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Reuters news reported.

"During her visit to Seif on Friday, the lawyer tried to deliver documents to Saif al-Islam , documents that have nothing to do with his case and that represent a danger to the security of Libya," According to a statement issued by Ahmed al-Jehani, the Libyan lawyer in charge of the Saif al-Islam case and who liaises between the government and ICC.

Ahmed al-Jehani did not explain the nature of the documents, but said they had been sent by Mohammed Ismail, Seif's former right-hand man, who has been away since Jun 2011.

"She is not in jail but with her colleagues in a guesthouse," al-Jehani added.

An ICC spokesman was not immediately available for comments on the incident.

The ICC is pressing for the extradition of Saif al-Islam on charges of crimes against humanity. However, Zintan authorities as well as Libya’s new authorities want Gaddafi’s son to be tried at home.

In related news regarding Libyan conflict,two people were killed and several others injured Saturday in clashes between the Libyan army and tribes in the south-east of the country, officials, tribal and medical sources said. Clashes erupted in the early hours of the day in the city of Al Kufra, near the border with Chad and Sudan.

"The Toubou tribe launched an attack on the town, the army returned fire and the fighting continues," said Aboukhalil Mouftah, Member of the Local Council. Two people were injured in the violence, he added, without providing further details.

Shakai Hussein, representing Toubous, said that his tribe was attacked and reported one of his men killed and five injured. According to Aboubark Taher, a doctor in a local hospital, one person was killed and five others were injured. "There are four wounded at the clinic," he said.

An official from the national army, Mayar Al Sharif, confirmed the clashes illustrate the ongoing chaos and ethnic tensions in Libya ten months after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Toubou are located mainly in Chad but some live in southern Libya.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said that his country is doing its best to free the Russian citizens who were convicted in Libya.

Last week, the military court in Tripoli sentenced two Russians and 25 citizens of Ukraine and Belarus to life in prison accusing them of being mercenaries of the former leader Muammar Gaddafi during the popular revolution, TASS news reported.

Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/09/219554.html