Saif al-Islam Gaddaffi, son of the late dictator and general mad-hatter Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, can’t get a fair trial in his home country of Libya.
At least that’s what Melinda Taylor, Gaddafi’s defense attorney is claiming.
Her exact words were, “The rights of my client, Mr. Saif al-Islam – were irrevocably prejudiced.”
She seems to think all of the abuse, oppression and murder Saif and his family visited upon the people of Libya may have spoiled – excuse me, prejudiced – the potential jury-pool.
Taylor wants Gaddafi extradited to The Hague for trial before the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, and the murder and torture of civilians.
While his father ostensibly ran the show, Saif acted as a sort of off-again, on-again prime minister to the Gaddafi regime.
He was seen as a possible successor to the Gaddafi “throne,” and something of a reform figure – but as the noose tightened around his father’s crumbling regime, Saif defended his birth right with brutal efficiency.
And now the people of Libya want justice and closure – and they’re not ready to hand Gaddafi over to an aloof multinational institution, nonpartisan justice or no nonpartisan justice.
And who can blame them? The litany of crimes the Gaddafi clan wrought against the people of Libya is so long, brutal and ridiculous it hardly warrants discussion.
The international community seems to think Libya will find closure in a long and drawn-out trial thousands of miles from the battlefield and nation in which Gaddafi’s crimes were committed.
If that isn’t alienating enough for the Libyan people, the ICC doesn’t even employ the death penalty – something that’s sort of a given in the Libyan judicial system.
Extradition advocates have been braying all week about due process and Saif al-Islam’s rights.
While I will not deny Mr. Gaddafi does indeed have rights, so do the other 5.5 million Libyans – including a right to self determination and the ability to settle this issue on their own terms.
If that settlement ends in a sham trial and the death of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, so be it.
It’s more than thousands of Libyans got under his rule and under his fathers rule.
Humanity has a long tradition of throwing failed dictators up against the wall, or dropping them on the business end of a guillotine.
Summary execution is really the biggest on-the-job hazard there is when it comes to dictating.
If Saif and co. wanted to avoid the hangman’s rope, they should have done a better job taking care of their people.
Furthermore, what better way to instill a sense of civic responsibility in Libya’s newly elected leadership than letting them witness first-hand what happens to a Libyan leader when they step on the Libyan people?
Thomas Jefferson said, “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
That seems like a pretty salient lesson for a country coming out of 30 years of despotism.
Many in the international media have said extradition to The Hague isn’t one option for Libya, it’s the only option.
While instilling a healthy fear of the populace in a leader is all well and good, setting a precedent for the rule of law is better – or so the argument goes.
I see no reason why Libya can’t have its cake and eat it too. This is an opportunity for Libya to establish its own precedent, and reach the sort of justice it sees fit.
In the end, Libya isn’t going to be administered from the Netherlands, it’s going to be administered from Libya – and whatever decision is ultimately made, it must be made by the Libyans.
Nicholas Pierce is a 22-year old History senior from Baton Rouge, follow him on Twitter @TDR_nabdulpierce.
 
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