Libyan prosecutors plan to charge rebel leaders with national security crimes, seeking to convict as traitors those leading the armed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi that has plunged the country into civil war. According to a report on the IoL site, a judge compiling the charges laid out his case against 21 rebel officials who are based in the eastern city of Benghazi, including the National Transitional Council’s head, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil. Defendants will be tried in absentia. The charges include facilitating foreign intervention in Libya, providing aid and military secrets to the enemy, and seeking to topple Gaddafi’s regime by force. In another development, Botswana said it supports an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Gaddafi, despite the AU summit’s refusal to execute it, notes a report on the News24 site. ‘Botswana wishes to reiterate her position in support of the warrant of arrest. This decision was not reached lightly,’ said a Foreign Ministry statement. ‘State-sponsored violence and blatant human rights violations by the Gaddafi regime on its own people, which started in February this year, continues unabated to this day,’ it said. ‘This is despite international efforts calling on the regime to end its violent campaign against the Libyan people.’
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