The International Criminal Court's pre-trial chamber has rejected Libya's request to try the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, BBC News reported.

Mr Gaddafi has been indicted by the ICC on war crimes charges relating to the 2011 uprising which toppled his father.

He remains in the custody of a local militia that captured him in late 2011, and is not in official state custody.

This and other challenges meant Libya was not ready to host the trial, the pre-trial chamber's judges said.

In a statement, the judges at The Hague recognized "Libya's significant efforts to rebuild institutions and to restore the rule of law". However, Libya continued to "face substantial difficulties in exercising fully its judicial powers across the entire territory", they added.