A high level team of the International Criminal Court, ICC, led by its President is arriving in Libya today to seek the release of its four-member legal team detained in Libya three weeks ago. The ICC Spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah told that their release is expected today. The four, including Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor, have been held in Zintan, since June 7 after travelling there to help prepare Seif al-Islam’s defence. Taylor was accused of carrying a pen camera and attempting to give Seif al-Islam a coded letter from his former right-hand man, Mohammed Ismail. The three other detained ICC staffers are from Lebanon, Russia and Spain. The ICC wants to try Seif al-Islam for crimes against humanity during his father Muammar Gaddafi's regime.Libya insists he should be tried locally and filed a motion challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction to put him on trial in Hague.

Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda has been sworn in as the new Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The 51-year-old Bensouda took the oath of office at a ceremony in The Hague today. Bensouda is the first woman and the first African to be chief prosecutor at the ICC, which some observers have criticized for pursuing only cases in African countries. 

She replaces Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, who stepped down as chief prosecutor after nine years on the job. Before coming to the ICC, Bensouda was senior legal adviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The International Criminal Court was founded in 2002 to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.