The death sentences handed Tuesday to deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gheddafi and eight other former top regime officials are "unacceptable", according to Libya's internationally recognised government 's envoy to the Vatican.
"They are sentences issued in the absence of a legitimate state and under the threat of arms," the Tobruk government's envoy to the Vatican Mustafa Ali Rugibani told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Gaddafi's military intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and his last prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi were among the nine people sentenced to death by a court in Tripoli for war crimes and other offences during the 2011.
Twenty-three other former officials were given sentences ranging from life imprisonment to five years in prison, four people were acquitted, and one was referred for medical treatment and not sentenced.
"It is my personal opinion that this sentencing unacceptable given Libya's current situation," said Rugibani.
"The sentences must be appealed in order that a new trial can take place under a legitimate government that will guarantee the rule of law."
The Islamist parliament in Tripoli refused to put its signature to a UN-sponsored accord between Libya's warring factions to create a national unity government, which was signed in Morocco on 12 July.
The country's internationally recognised parliament, the House of Representatives in Tobruk in eastern Libya, signed the deal.
Libya, plunged into chaos after the 2011 ouster of Gaddafi, with two parliaments and governments vying for power and armed groups battling for control of the country’s oil wealth.
