Saif al-Islam Gaddafi captured in Libya

[Gabbar Singh]

The last rat caught trying to jump ship.

Celebrations have erupted across Libya at the capture of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the fugitive son of Libya's deceased former dictator. Libyan state TV reported that Saif has arrived in captivity and unhurt at an army base in the town of Zintan, 90 miles south-west of Tripoli.

Muammar Gaddafi's second and highest-profile son, who vowed to die fighting but was taken without firing a shot, was captured along with several bodyguards by fighters near the town of Obari in Libya's southern desert, said the interim justice minister and other officials.

Saif was said to be in good health, according to the justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi, although photographs showed bandages .

"We have arrested Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in [the] Obari area," the minister told Reuters.

Saif was captured near the southern city of Sabha with two aides trying to smuggle him out to neighbouring Niger, militia commander Bashir al-Tayeleb said.

Zintan, a base for forces in the Nafusa Mountains which played a key part in the storming of Tripoli in the summer, is reported to have crowds dancing in the streets and waving the Libyan flag.

There are reports that an angry mob tried to storm the plane on which Saif was taken to the western mountain town of Zintan, the home of one of the largest revolutionary brigades in Libya. Video footage showed dozens of people on top of the aircraft.

Gunfire is echoing across the capital, Tripoli, where large crowds have gathered in Martyrs' Square firing volleys of automatic fire in the air. "A great day, a great day," said Abdullah, a taxi driver, stuck in one of the traffic jams that built up around the square.

Libyan TV also showed a photo purportedly of Saif in custody. He is sitting by a bed and holding up three bandaged fingers as a guard looks on.

There were reports that Saif was wounded during his capture. But Saif told Reuters that his hand was bandaged due to wounds sustained in a Nato air strike a month ago. Asked if he was feeling all right, he replied: "Yes."

"At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him," Ahmed Ammar, one of his captors, told the news agency.

Tlayeb, of the Zintan brigades said it would be up to the Libya's transitional ruling National Transitional Council to decide on where Saif would be tried.

He added that there was still no information about Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi's location.

Many Libyans believe Saif holds the keys in his head to billions of dollars of public money amassed by the Gaddafi family. But his captors said they found only a few thousand dollars and a cache of rifles in vehicles seized during his capture.

The arrest comes after months of hunting for the suspect in the southern desert but also provides the first challenge for the new government which prime minister Abdel-Rahim al-Keeb is due to announce on Sunday.

Previously, the ruling National Transitional Council has insisted it will try any war criminals in Libya and not extradite them to the international criminal court which in June indicted Gaddafi for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"If they want to try Saif then what can they do to make Zintan hand him over?" said Henry Smith, an analyst with the Control Risks group.

"They may leave his fate to Zintanis but then where does that leave Libya's embryonic judicial system? This is an acid test of the NTC's authority."

Last month, Saif told the international criminal court he is innocent of alleged crimes against humanity. The court, based in The Hague, is seeking his arrest on charges relating to Libya's civil war.

Alagi said he was in touch with the ICC over how to deal with Saif, either at home or The Hague. He told al-Jazeera: "We Libyans do not oppose the presence of international monitors to monitor the trial procedures that will take place for the symbols of the former regime."

The international criminal court's chief prosecutor will go to Libya in a week to discuss how and where Saif will be prosecuted.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said: "I'm going to Libya to discuss how we manage this issue. But the news is Saif will get justice. Where and how, that we will discuss."

The ICC charged Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, and Senussi with crimes against humanity for the bombing and shooting of civilian protesters in February.

British foreign secretary, William Hague, welcomed Saif's arrest as "another significant step forward in the transition to a new, democratic Libya."

Hague added: " We stand ready to assist the Libyan government and the ICC to bring Saif al-Islam to justice. I welcome the Libyan authorities' commitment to ensure his detention and trial meet international standards."

Saif fled Libya after forces loyal to Libya's new rulers captured and apparently killed his father outside his hometown of Sirte. But Libyan officials are determined to resist attempts to bring Saif before the ICC, claiming he should instead face justice at home.

When Tripoli seemed set to fall to the rebels, he appeared outside a hotel in the city meeting loyalists and talking to western reporters. He went underground after the capital fell to revolutionary forces.

Born in 1972, Saif is the oldest of seven children of Muammar and Safia Gaddafi. He drew western backing in previous years by touting himself as a liberal reformer but then staunchly backed his father in the brutal crackdown on rebels in the regime's final days.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/19/saif-al-islam-gaddafi-captured

 

[Tiger T]

interesting to see he was caught inside libya. was quite well educated, seems quite strange to see him in this situation

 

[Asif khan]

To recieve a fair trial he has to be tried at The Hague.

The NTC are promising one but they just cannot be trusted, however, with the support of the West

i think he will get tried in Tripoli and face the death penalty.

 

[Markhor]

Very articulate person, good that he is not being battered to death like his father, he should be given a fair trial.

To recieve a fair trial he has to be tried at The Hague.

The West will want anything but Saif Gaddafi on trial in the international courts - Britain has the most to lose as there are allegations that the British intelligence services co-operated in torture of Libyan dissidents with the Gaddafi regime.

Saif was the mover and shaker of the Gaddafi regime in the last few years and he could reveal some damning information if given the opportunity to speak at the Hague.

The West will probably want him given a quiet trial in Tripoli and sentenced to death.

 

[Asif khan]

Very articulate person, good that he is not being battered to death like his father, he should be given a fair trial.


The West will want anything but Saif Gaddafi on trial in the international courts - Britain has the most to lose as there are allegations that the British intelligence services co-operated in torture of Libyan dissidents with the Gaddafi regime.

Saif was the mover and shaker of the Gaddafi regime in the last few years and he could reveal some damning information if given the opportunity to speak at the Hague.

The West will probably want him given a quiet trial in Tripoli and sentenced to death.

Excellent post and i can imagine that's what Prince Andrew, Lord Mandelson and Tony Blair would be hoping because if he reveals all he knows about the UK’s previous relations with Libya, his evidence could prove highly embarrassing.

 

[asifp]

Only worth it if it becomes public.

Would be worth if he can say how much the these advisors such as Blair were paid

 

[MenInG]

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya’s former leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, has registered as a presidential candidate for the December 24 election, an official from the electoral commission said.

“Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi submitted … his candidacy for the presidential election to the High National Electoral Commission office in the [southern] city of Sebha,” a statement by the commission said on Sunday.

Gaddafi is one of the most prominent figures expected to run for president – a list that also includes renegade eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and parliament speaker Aguila Saleh.

Photographs distributed on social media showed Gaddafi, with a grey beard and wearing glasses and a traditional brown robe and turban, signing documents at the registration centre in the southern town of Sebha on Sunday.

Despite the public backing of most Libyan factions and foreign powers for elections on December 24, the vote is still in doubt as rival entities squabble over the rules and schedule.

A major conference in Paris on Friday agreed to sanction those who disrupt or prevent the vote, but there is still no agreement on rules to govern who should be able to run.

The elections are envisaged as a key moment in a UN-backed peace process to end a decade of violent chaos that has drawn in regional powers and undermined Mediterranean stability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

Wrangling over the election threatens to unravel the wider peace process, which also includes efforts to unify long-divided state institutions and to pull out foreign mercenaries who remain entrenched along front lines despite a ceasefire.

While Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is likely to play on nostalgia for the era before the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that swept his father from power and ushered in a decade of chaos and violence, analysts say he may be a front runner.

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The Gaddafi era is still remembered by many Libyans as one of harsh autocracy, while Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and other former regime figures have been out of power for so long, they may find it difficult to mobilise as much support as major rivals.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi remains something of a cypher to many Libyans, having spent the past decade out of public sight since his capture in 2011 by fighters from the mountain region of Zintan.

He gave an interview to the New York Times earlier this year but has not yet made any public appearance speaking directly to Libyans.

Complicating his presidential ambitions, Gaddafi was tried in absentia in 2015 by a Tripoli court at which he appeared via videolink from Zintan, and which sentenced him to death for war crimes including killing protesters during the 2011 uprising.

He would likely face arrest or other dangers if he appeared publicly in the capital Tripoli. He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Educated at the London School of Economics and a fluent English speaker, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was once seen by many governments as the acceptable, Western-friendly face of Libya, and a possible heir apparent.

But when the uprising broke out in 2011 against Muammar Gaddafi’s long rule, Saif al-Islam immediately chose family and clan loyalties over his many friendships in the West, telling Reuters television: “We fight here in Libya; we die here in Libya.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...afi-runs-for-president-official?sf154458689=1