From Al Jazeera:

"The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has sought arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son, Saif al-Islam, and another Libyan official on war crimes charges.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo will hand a 74-page dossier of evidence to a three-judge panel at the court in the Hague, the Netherlands, on Monday.

They will decide whether the case is strong enough for them to confirm crimes against humanity charges, and issue international arrest warrants.

"We are almost ready for trial," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement earlier. "The office collected good and solid evidence to identify [those] who bear the greatest responsibility."

The third official named was Abdullah Senussi, Gaddafi's intelligence chief.

Moreno-Ocampo said that Muammar Gaddafi had personally ordered attacks on Libyan civilians. He described Saif al-Islam as Libya's "de facto prime minister". Senussi was the "executioner" of the regime's campaign against its opponents, he said.

"The office gathered direct evidence about orders issued by Muammar Gaddafi himself, direct evidence of Saif al-Islam organising the recruitment of mercenaries, and direct evidence of the participation of al-Senussi in the attacks against demonstrators," said Moreno-Ocampo.

Moreno-Ocampo's investigation into potential human rights violations has spanned several countries and involved sorting through around 1,500 documents, Al Jazeera's Rory Challands said.

But the two-and-a-half months it has taken to come up with a petition for arrest warrants is a "heartbeat in international justice," he added.

On Monday, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said Gaddafi was looking for a "suitable place" to find exile.

"Messages have been arriving from the regime's restricted circle," he said. "Certain [members] have spoken under cover and are beginning to say that Gaddafi is looking for an honourable way out," he added."