ZINTAN: There was confusion Thursday over the trial of Seif Al-Islam, son of slain Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, after a scheduled hearing on charges of threatening national security did not take place.

Seif, whose charges stem from the 2011 uprising that ousted his father, last appeared in court in the western city of Zintan on Dec. 12. His lawyer said then that the next hearing was scheduled for Thursday, and prosecution spokesman Seddik Al-Sour confirmed that as recently as Wednesday.

But Sour retracted that Thursday. He said the hearing had actually been scheduled for last Thursday but had then been postponed because it coincided with voting for an assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution. “It is up to the Zintan court to fix a new hearing date,” he said.

On Oct. 24, a Tripoli court indicted Seif and 36 other Qaddafi aides for a raft of alleged offenses during the uprising. But Zintan rebels refused to have him transferred to the capital, despite a request from Libya’s prosecutor general and even though the authorities say his jail is under state control.

Seif is still wanted for trial by the ICC on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.