Updated

U.N. human rights experts say they will visit Libya next week to examine the use of mercenaries to fight the uprising that eventually brought down Moammar Gadhafi's four-decade dictatorship.

Faiza Patel, head of the U.N. Human Rights Council panel, says it also aims to collect "direct and first-hand information" on private companies offering military aid, consultants and security to Gadhafi's regime.

Patel and another expert said Friday they will spend four days in Libya at the invitation of the government, which claims to have evidence linking Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, to the supervision and planning of the recruitment of mercenaries in the civil war that ended the regime.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor said in April that Libya also claims to have evidence linking Gadhafi's son to executions.