Boulder, CO, Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — KAF International Law Group, part of an international legal team representing victims of the armed violence that affected Tripoli, Libya, in May 2025, announced that the team is preparing to submit a dossier of evidence and legal analysis to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in early 2027.
The submission will seek further examination of incidents that occurred during the violence, including deaths, reported attacks on residential properties and judicial facilities, and allegations concerning the treatment of deceased individuals. The legal team is assessing whether certain acts under examination could constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute of the ICC.
Background to the May 2025 violence
Between 12 and 14 May 2025, Tripoli experienced large-scale armed violence, resulting in the most significant period of instability in the Libyan capital for many years.
The events involved armed actors and affected civilians, government personnel, residential properties and infrastructure.
Individuals affected by these events and their families subsequently sought legal assistance to explore available avenues for accountability through domestic or international judicial mechanisms.
International legal team representing victims
The legal team is led by Dr. Khaled Al-Zaidy, a senior Libyan lawyer, and includes Anand Shah, an American attorney specializing in international criminal law.
Shah has seventeen years of experience representing victims and defendants before international judicial bodies, including the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The team also includes a senior investigator with experience managing high-profile investigations for the United Nations and international criminal tribunals across the Middle East and Africa, alongside specialists in electronic evidence and case management.
The team’s mandate is to examine the events surrounding the May 2025 violence, assess potential violations of domestic and international law, and explore available legal avenues on behalf of the individuals it represents.
Incidents under investigation
The investigation examines events leading up to 12 May 2025, with particular attention to incidents affecting the team’s clients.
These include:
- The circumstances surrounding the deaths of members of the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA), including its head, Abdulghani Alkikli, during a meeting on the evening of 12 May.
- Reports concerning the alleged mistreatment or desecration of the bodies of deceased SSA members.
- Reported attacks on and looting of residential properties in Tripoli’s Abu Salim district.
- Reported incidents involving prisons, Judicial Police facilities and Judicial Police officers.
The legal team reports having collected and analyzed a substantial body of video recordings, audio material, photographs, documents and witness testimony.
According to the team, the investigation has been conducted in the face of significant security and logistical challenges.
Assessment of potential violations of international criminal law
Based on its examination of the available evidence, the legal team considers that certain incidents may involve violations of Libyan law.
The team is also assessing whether the intensity, nature and organization of the violence meet the legal threshold for a non-international armed conflict.
Should that threshold be established, certain acts allegedly committed in connection with the events could potentially fall within the scope of war crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute.
These assessments reflect the legal team’s preliminary analysis. They do not constitute judicial findings or determinations of individual criminal responsibility.
The ICC may exercise jurisdiction over alleged crimes falling within the Rome Statute committed in Libya following the United Nations Security Council’s referral of the situation in the country to the ICC Prosecutor in 2011.
The Court has previously pursued proceedings concerning alleged international crimes in the situation in Libya.
Seeking an international path to justice
More than seventeen months after the May 2025 events, the individuals represented by the team remain concerned about the prospects for accountability through Libya’s domestic judicial system.
According to the legal team, the country’s legal, political and security circumstances may present challenges to achieving an effective, fair and transparent judicial process at the national level.
The team expects to complete its investigative and legal work ahead of a planned submission to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor in early 2027.
The communication is expected to include the evidence collected, a factual account of the incidents examined and a legal assessment of potential violations.
Through this submission, the team intends to request that the Office of the Prosecutor review the information concerning the May 2025 events and consider whether further action is warranted within its mandate.
Dr. Khaled Al-Zaidy, who leads the legal team, expressed the victims’ hopes for international accountability:
“It is the hope of the victims that the will of the international community embodied in the Rome Statute will offer an alternate path to justice and accountability that has thus far proven an impasse at the national level.”
The planned submission represents an effort by the affected individuals and their legal representatives to bring the documented information before an international judicial institution. Any subsequent action will depend on the ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s independent assessment and the applicable legal procedures.
Anand Shah is available for media inquiries regarding the planned submission.
Press Inquiries
Anand Shah
anand [at] lvictims.com
+31 6 1945-8488
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandashah/
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