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Two of Muammar Gaddafi's sons and three dozen former officials are to face court for alleged war crimes committed during the 2011 uprising.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and his younger brother, Saadi, are due to face court on Monday on charges including murder and plundering state coffers.

Their co-accused include the former intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi and former prime ministers, al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi and Bouzid Dorda.

For prosecutors, it is a chance to finally call to account key members of the Gaddafi regime for alleged crimes committed during the uprising and the decades of dictatorship that preceded it.

Security is expected to be tight at Tripoli's Hadba prison, which has been turned into a fortress protected by barbed wire, armoured cars and machine-guns.

Prosecutors say more than 200 witnesses have been interviewed and more than 40,000 pages of evidence assembled, along with video and audio evidence that allegedly shows the defendants giving instructions to security units to open fire on protesters.