Libya on Tuesday insisted it should be allowed to prosecute one of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's son, telling international judges that trying him at home will be "a unique opportunity for national reconciliation." Libyan lawyer Ahmed al-Jehani, was speaking at the start of a two-day hearing at the International Criminal Court that will go a long way to deciding where Seif al-Islam Gaddafi will be put on trial for crimes against humanity in Libya or The Hague.

Seif al-Islam is charged by the international court with crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in the deadly crackdown on dissent against his father's rule.

However, Libyan authorities who captured him last year insist that the international tribunal's own rules allow them to try Seif al-Islam.

Under the Hague-based court's founding statute, it can only step in if a country where crimes were committed is unable or unwilling to prosecute, a legal principle called complementarity.