Gaddafi’s son freed by militia in Libya

SAIF AL-ISLAM, the second son and heir apparent of the late deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly been freed after more than five years’ detention in Libya.

The Abu Bakr al-sadiq Brigade, a militia that controls the town of Zintan, said the 44-year-old was freed late on Friday, under an amnesty law.

“He is now free and has left the city of Zintan,” the group said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Hanan Salah, a Libya researcher for Human Rights Watch, said he was last seen by independent observers in June 2014. She tweeted: “Statement alone won’t cut it, need visual proof.”

Karim Khan, al-islam’s lawyer at the International Criminal Court where he is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity, told AFP: “I am not able to confirm or deny any matters at this moment in time.”

However, Mary Fitzgerald, a researcher specialising in Libya, said: “This time the reports appear to have more substance.”

Al-islam, who has a PHD from the London School of Economics, was captured in 2011, just days after his father was killed in the Natobacked uprising.

Some believe the country’s eastern government aims to rehabilitate and return Gaddafi-era figures to political life.