MUAMMAR GADAFY’S fugitive son Saif al-Islam has been in contact with the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague about surrendering to face charges of inciting the murder of thousands of Libyans.
The judicial body confirmed establishing an indirect link with the elder Gadafy scion, who is believed to be in southern Libya, where he is attempting to reach either Niger or Mali.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said conversations had so far been informal and been held with an associate of the Libyan. Saif faces the most serious charges on the court’s statutes, committing crimes against humanity. An indictment was filed against him in June.
“We have evidence, we believe he was part of the crime against humanity committed in Libya by him, his father and al-Sennusi,” Mr Ocampo told CNN. “Saif was critically important in organising the killings of civilians in Libya and that is why we are prosecuting him.”
Mr Ocampo suggested Saif could be travelling with the protection of mercenaries who are preparing to fly him to an unidentified African state that does not co-operate with the ICC and would be unlikely to extradite him. He warned that the court would consider a mid-air “interception” to thwart any such escape attempt.
Mr Ocampo said Saif’s representative had insisted the 39-year-old was innocent and serious about defending the charges against him. But some Libyan officials suggest he is attempting to buy time and to ensure that Nato jets, which will finish their mission in three days, will not again try to bomb his convoy.
Western officials and Libya’s interim rulers now believe that Saif made a brief rendezvous with his father in the desert town of Bani Walid in late August, before Muammar Gadafy made the fateful journey north to his birthplace of Sirte where he was killed on October 20th.
Around the time of the fall of Sirte, Saif headed south from Bani Walid in a convoy of armoured cars that was attacked by Nato jets, western officials believe. Saif is believed to be travelling separately from former regime spy chief Sennusi who intelligence officials believe is moving constantly in the border area of Algeria, Niger and Mali.
Rumours have persisted since Gadafy’s death that South African mercenaries may have been trying to aid his escape before their convoy was struck by a Nato drone on the outskirts of Sirte.
South African media has reported widely on the allegations this week and suggested an earlier operation to evacuate Gadafy’s wife, Safia, pregnant daughter Aisha and sons Mohammed and Hannibal to Algeria in August may also have been carried out by hired guns from South Africa.
Media reports in Johannesburg suggest the team that evacuated the Gadafy family was 24-strong and had since returned home. – (Guardianservice)