Libya to try officials on prisoner killings: Gaddafi son

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya will try police and prison officials over the mass killing of detainees in a Tripoli jail 12 years ago, state leader Muammar Gaddafi's influential son said on Thursday.

Human rights activists at home and abroad said the killing of up to 1,400 political prisoners by government forces in a few hours in 1996 at Abu Salim prison showed Libya's grim human rights record.

"Preliminary genuine investigations of what really happened at Abu Salim prison have been completed and the case will move to the state prosecutor's office and then to court for trial," Saif al Islam Gaddafi told a gathering of top police and government officials.

It was the first time in 12 years that the Abu Salim massacre has been discussed in public openly.

"Disproportionate force was used in the case of Abu Salim. Mistakes have been made in handling the case," said Saif, whose speech was broadcast live by Libyan state television.

"The trial will follow a fair process and those found guilty will be punished. The trial will be open to the public."

Saif did not say how many prisoners had been killed when government forces stormed prisoners, most of them radical Islamists.

He said it took place amid fear and confrontation between government forces and Fighting Islamic Group in Libya (FIGL) rebels.

The FIGL first announced its presence in 1995, vowing to overthrow Gaddafi and launching a violent campaign in the OPEC oil exporting country.

In November 2007, al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zaawahri said the group joined the global militant network.

"Abu Salim took place in a climate of terror and fear which was sweeping the country in the 1990s," Saif said, citing the killings of 113 of policemen and army soldiers in clashes with FIGL rebels.

"Abu Salim's subject is still a taboo. Everyone knew the secret but no one talked about it publicly."

(Writing by Lamine Ghanmi; editing by Richard Meares)