TRIPOLI — On Tuesday, a Libyan court sentenced Muammar Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, and eight others to death over war crimes, including killings of protesters during the 2011 revolution that ended his father’s rule.

The former Gaddafi regime officials sentenced to die by firing squad included former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and ex-prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, Sadiq al-Sur, chief investigator at the Tripoli state prosecutor’s office, told a televised news conference in the capital.

The trial process and outcome drew condemnation abroad, with Human Rights Watch and a prominent international lawyer saying it was riddled with legal flaws and carried out amid widespread lawlessness undermining the credibility of the judiciary.

Eight ex-officials received life sentences and seven jail terms of 12 years each, Sadiq said. Four of the 37 defendants were acquitted, others got shorter jail terms.

Muammar Gaddafi himself was killed by rebel forces after being captured following months on the run.

Sadiq did not spell out the charges on which the verdict was based, saying this should await the expected written ruling. Defendants had been accused of a range of offenses, including war crimes and corruption.

The verdict on Saif al-Islam was passed in absentia because he has been held since 2011 by a former rebel group in Zintan, a mountainous western region beyond central government control. Internal armed conflict has split Libya into factional fiefdoms.