FREE MAN, PRISONER OR DEAD – WHERE IS QADDAFI’S SON SAIF?
Corruption allegations against Nicolas Sarkozy put the Libyan dictator’s heir in the spotlight
Almost a year after a Libyan militia announced it had set free the son and heir apparent of slain dictator Muammar Qaddafi, the fate of Saif Al Islam remains a mystery.
His reported release from detention by the Abu Bakr Al Sadiq Brigade, which once controlled the town of Zintan in western Libya, has never been confirmed.
While some insist he is somewhere in Zintan, others claim that Saif, reported to be considering a run in presidential elections, is dead.
He has not been publicly seen or heard of since 2014, when he appeared via video from Zintan during his trial by a Tripoli court.
But the charges against France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy, accused of financing his 2007 election campaign with money from Qaddafi, has put Saif back in the spotlight.
In a 2011 interview with the Euronews television network, the dictator’s son said Mr Sarkozy must “give back the money he took from Libya to finance his electoral campaign”.
Saif Al Islam – whose name means “sword of Islam” – was captured by the Zintan-based militia in November 2011, days after Qaddafi was killed in a Nato-backed uprising against his decades-old rule.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is in a legal tugof-war with Libyan authorities to transfer Saif to The Hague, where he is wanted for crimes against humanity, including murder.
But in July 2015, a court in Tripoli sentenced the now 45-yearold to death in absentia along with eight Qaddafi-era figures. Several Libyan sources, and diplomats, have said Saif has not left Zintan, a largely tribal town 170 kilometres south-west of Tripoli and one of the cradles of the 2011 uprising.
But is he a prisoner? No one in Zintan, a town of 40,000 inhabitants, is willing to give a clear answer.
“Yes. He is still a prisoner,” said Mokhtar Al Akhdar, a member of Zintan’s military council, which groups the town’s key militias, when asked about Saif.
“Even if he is not a prisoner, he is wanted by the ICC … and he has nowhere to go,” he said, throwing further doubt on Saif’s fate.
Chaaban Al Marhani, one of the town’s tribal leaders, also provided a confusing account of Saif’s whereabouts.
“He is here and he is a prisoner, but his fate in not in the hands of Zintan.”
A member of the security services added to the confusion.
“In any case Saif Al Islam was never really a prisoner in the full meaning of the word.
“Ever since his arrest he has been under home arrest … not in a prison,” he said.
The Abu Bakr Al Sadiq Brigade, which captured him more than six years ago, had repeatedly refused to hand Saif over to authorities in Tripoli or the ICC.
The group said it released him in June last year as part of a general amnesty decreed by a parliament based in eastern Libya, although legal experts said Saif was not included in the amnesty.
The militia – which Zintan residents say was disbanded nearly a year ago – failed to convince anyone when it announced his release a year ago because it had also reported setting him free a few months earlier.
Omar Gaith, a member of parliament from Zintan, said he “cannot confirm or deny the liberation of Saif”.
“Saif Al Islam is considered a criminal and a fugitive. If he is arrested he will be put on trial again,” he said.
The Tripoli court sentenced Saif to death, along with other Qaddafi-era officials, for crimes, including murder and complicity to incite rape during the 2011 uprising – a verdict criticised by the UN and by human rights groups.
Owing to the severe nature of these crimes “he cannot benefit from any amnesty”, said the office of the prosecutor general in Tripoli.
The ICC prosecutor was not available for comment on Saif’s fate.
The court said, in 2015, it was trying to verify his whereabouts, reiterating its demand for his arrest and transfer to The Hague.
Meanwhile the mystery surrounding Saif grows, including among diehard Qaddafi supporters.
On March 19, a man speaking from Tunis, and claiming to represent Saif, said Qaddafi’s son would run in Libya’s next presidential election.
The claim was rejected by the Abu Bakr Al Sadiq Brigade, which said on its Facebook page that it had contacted Saif who insisted he has not yet entrusted anyone to represent him.
Yes. He is still a prisoner … Even if he is not a prisoner, he is wanted by the ICC and he has nowhere to go MOKHTAR AL AKHDAR Member of Zintan’s military council