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Saif al-Islam Gadhafi Captured
Moammar Gadhafi’s son Saif al-Islam (pictured), the only wanted member of the ousted ruling family to remain at large, was captured as he traveled with aides in a convoy in Libya’s southern desert, Libyan officials said Saturday. Thunderous celebratory gunfire shook the Libyan capital as the news spread.
A spokesman for the Libyan fighters who captured him said Seif al-Islam, who has been charged by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, was detained about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the town of Obari with two aides as he was trying to flee to neighboring Niger. But the country’s acting justice minister later said the convoy’s destination was not confirmed.
His capture just over a month after his father was killed leaves only former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi wanted by the ICC, which indicted the three men for in June for unleashing a campaign of murder and torture to suppress the uprising against the Gadhafi regime that broke out in mid-February.
“This is the day of victory, this is the day of liberation, finally the son of the tyrant has been captured,” said Mohammed Ali, an engineer, as he celebrated on Tripoli’s Martyrs’ Square. “Now we are free, now we are free, God is Great.”
Libyan TV posted a photo purportedly of Saif al-Islam in custody. He is sitting by a bed and holding up three bandaged fingers as a guard looks on. International rights groups urged the Libyans to respect his human rights.
“Saif must face justice. Whether it’s in Libya or in The Hague, he should face justice. We have to coordinate together with the Libyan authorities,” ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said in a telephone interview.
The murky circumstances surrounding the deaths of Gadhafi and another son Muatassim, and the decision to lay their bodies out for public viewing has drawn criticism from rights groups.
Marek Marczynski of Amnesty International urged the Libyans to transfer Saif al-Islam to the ICC base in the Netherlands as soon as possible.
“The ICC has an arrest warrant out for him and that is the correct thing to do. He must be brought before a judge as soon as possible,” he said. “It matters for the victims. What they need to see is true justice. They need to know the truth about what happened.”
Mohammed al-Alagi, the National Transitional Council’s justice minister, told The Associated Press that Saif al-Islam was detained deep in Libya’s desert Friday night by revolutionary forces from the mountain town of Zintan who had been tracking him for days.
