War Crimes Prosecutor Calls For 'Immediate' Arrest Of Qaddafi's Son Saif

Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the second son of Libya’s late dictator Muammar Qaddafi, attends a hearing behind bars in a courtroom in Zintan, Libya, in 2014.

The International Criminal Court has called for the "immediate" arrest and surrender of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of the late Muammar Qaddafi, who was released by a militia in Libya last week after six years in jail.

The Hague, Netherlands-based court issued an arrest warrant for Qaddafi in 2011 for alleged crimes against humanity. He had been held by a militia group that controls the town of Zintan in western Libya before being released on June 9 as part of an amnesty.

His whereabouts are not known, nor has his release been independently confirmed.

"The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Mr. Qaddafi on 27 June 2011 for the crimes against humanity of murder and persecution, allegedly committed in Libya in 2011, remains valid," the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor said in a statement on June 14.

"Libya is obliged to immediately arrest and surrender Mr Qaddafi to the ICC, regardless of any purported amnesty law in Libya," it added.

A court in Tripoli sentenced Saif al-Islam Qaddafi to death on charges related to killings during the country's 2011 uprising. He had been in custody in Zintan since his capture in late 2011, which came after his father was killed.

Based on reporting by the BBC, The Independent, and dpa