On 8 August, the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to unseal the arrest warrant issued initially on 10 November 2020 against Saif al-Nusr Suleiman Salem Sneidel. He is believed to be a member of ‘Group 50’, a sub-group of the Libyan National Army (LNA) al-Saiqa Brigade. Group 50 was commanded by Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli. Sneidel was referred to as early as May 2017 as a ‘field commander’ and as early as February 2018 as an officer with the rank of first lieutenant.
The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Sneidel is responsible for war crimes of murder, torture and outrages upon personal dignity, allegedly committed in Benghazi or surrounding areas. Among others, he probably participated in three executions taking place on or before 3 June 2016, on or before 19 June 2017, and on or about 17 July 2017 together with Mahmoud al-Werfalli, where a total of 23 people were murdered.
On 9 August, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC welcomed the decision by Pre-Trial Chamber I to grant its request to lift the confidentiality of the arrest warrant for suspect Seif Suleiman Sneidl and urged Libyan authorities to execute the warrant in line with UNSCR 1970 (2011). The Office reaffirmed that Libya remains a priority for the ICC.
Initial reports that Sneidel had been arrested in Jordan on the same day have proven to be false.