Libya's former spy chief sentenced to death

Cairo, July 28 (AKI) A Libyan court has sentenced to death former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi's last prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, for "genocide" during the 2011 revolt against his rule, the Lana news agency said on Tuesday.

Senussi and Mahmoudi were among eight people from the former dictatorship who were handed the death penalty including Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was once seen as his heir apparent.

Sadiq al-Sur, head of the investigation department of the attorney general, said lawyers could appeal against the sentences.

The trial, which opened in Tripoli in April last year, has been mired in controversy after human rights groups and the international criminal court questioned its standards.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is being held by a militia in the mountain town of Zintan that is opposed to Libya Dawn, the militia coalition in control of Tripoli.

He has been held in Zintan since he was caught trying to flee Libya after the 2011 revolution. The militia has refused to hand him over to Tripoli.

Saif al-Islam is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors say that he was part of his father's plans to "quell, by all means, the civilian demonstrations against the Gaddafi regime".

--IANS/AKI

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