On 25 November 2025, International Criminal Court (ICC) Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan addressed the United Nations Security Council in New York on the Situation in Libya. She said there had been a series of unprecedented landmarks over the last six months noting a new momentum towards justice in Libya with the first trial expected to be held at the Court in this situation. She cautioned that this progress has been delivered ‘despite what are also unprecedented headwinds faced by the Court’ highlighting ‘coercive measures and acts of intimidation against the ICC, civil society and other partners of justice’. She said that for too long, crimes committed in detention facilities in the West and the East of Libya have represented a no-go-area for accountability, and it is that sense of impunity that has acted as a driver, an accelerant for the infliction of even more cruelty.
She highlighted several key cases. This included the arrest of Khaled Mohamed Ali al-Hishri by German authorities on 16 July on the basis of a warrant issued by Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC. The Office of the Prosecutor alleges that Mr. EL HISHRI is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Mitiga Prison from February 2015 to at least early 2020, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence against Libyan nationals and migrants. She underscored the imminent transfer of Mr. EL HISHRI to the ICC, saying this sent a clear message that those responsible for inflicting suffering in Libya are mistaken if they believe they are still outside the reach of justice.
A joint statement on behalf of France, Greece, Guyana, Panama, the republic of Korea, Slovenia, the UK, Denmark, and Sierra Leone welcomed the significant progress made in the reporting period by the Office across its four key lines of inquiry in the Libya situation, in fulfilment of the mandate set by the Council under resolution 1970 (2011).
On 26 November, the Benghazi Court of Appeal ruled to accept the appeal submitted by GNS PM Osama Hammad against the decision of GNU PM Dabaiba in May 2025 approving the ICC’s jurisdiction to investigate the events that took place in Libya during the period from 2011 to 2027, and issued an order to suspend its implementation.
In a statement, Hammad argued that ‘what was stated in the briefing of the ICC’s prosecutor represents a clear violation of the provisions of the Rome Statute and an infringement on the sovereignty of the Libyan state and the independence of its judiciary,’ because ‘the Government of National Unity, whose mandate has expired, does not have any authority to relinquish the jurisdiction of the Libyan judiciary and transfer it to foreign entities.’