Saif al-Islam Gadafy was betrayed to his captors by a Libyan nomad who says he was hired to help Muammar Gadafy's son escape to neighbouring Niger on the promise that he would be paid €1 million.
Saif Gadafy, wanted for prosecution by the International Criminal Court, was captured at the weekend in what one official in the country's new government said was "the final chapter in Libya's drama."
With a black scarf wrapped around his head, Yussef Saleh al-Hotmani said that he contacted revolutionary fighters in Libya's south to inform them when the former Libyan dictator's son's two-car convoy would be passing through the area on the night of November 18th.
"I made Saif believe that I trusted him," he said today in Zintan, where Saif al-Islam is being held at a secret location before the details of his prosecution are finalised.
On the night of Saif Gadafy's capture, Mr Hotmani said he was travelling with his personal guard in the first car of their convoy.
"I had agreed with the fighters (who captured Saif al-Islam) that the best place for the ambush would be in a part of desert that was surrounded by high ground," he said.
Ten fighters from Zintan, in the Western mountains, and five from Mr Hotmani's own tribe, al-Hotman, were waiting.
"When we arrived at the dark, deep hollow the gunfire was very precise, it only took about half a minute to capture the first car," he said, adding that he had intentionally told the convoy to have the vehicles spaced 3km apart to give the fighters time to regroup and for Mr Hotmani to join them. "When the second car arrived, we started to shoot very precisely, to damage the vehicle so he could not escape."
Saif Gadafy, dressed in a long robe and a brown head scarf wrapped around his face, jumped out of the car, tried to run, but was captured, says Mr Hotmani. "We treated him as a prisoner of war."
It is unclear if Mr Hotmani had planned to ensnare Saif Gadafy from the moment he linked up with the fugitive's group in the Sahara desert, or if he defected when he had doubts about his payment and feared that he might be killed.
The Saharan nomad, who calls himself the "son of the desert", refused to give details on when or how he contacted the 15 fighters of the interim government who caught Saif Gadafy.
"I'm sure (Saif al-Islam and his guards) were planning to execute me when we reached the border. They had two handguns, two grenades, a knife and handcuffs. They were ready to execute me if they had any doubt," said Mr Hotmani. He spoke with the new Libyan flag draped over his shoulder as a show of solidarity with the country's new rulers.
The fighters allied to the National Transitional Council (NTC) who caught Saif Gadafy refer to Mr Hotmani as a "hero".
There was less than $5,000 found in the two-car convoy and Mr Hotmani said he was not paid a penny of the €1 million promised to him.
"I didn't ask for an advance payment or anything," he said. "There was no money in the car. This proves that he wanted to execute me at the border."
Proclaiming to know several languages and having run a small tourism agency, Mr Hotmani said he was hired as a desert guide for the group that included Saif al-Islam.
"Saif didn't think I knew it was him. Nobody told me it was him," said Mr Hotmani.
Why Saif Gadafy trusted the man who would eventually betray him is not clear but Mr Hotmani said he was in denial.
"Saif was dreaming of leaving Libya and then to eventually return," said Mr Hotmani.
Those who were with Saif Gadafy in the hours after he was captured paint a picture of a solitary man, calm and controlled.
The commander of the fighters that conducted the ambush, Al-Ajami Ali al-Ateri, said that on the plane which transferred their prisoner to Zintan where he is being held, Saif al-Islam had asked if it had been the Hotmani that had tipped them off.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had visited Saif Gadafy in detention in Zintan today.
"The ICRC visited Saif al-Islam this afternoon in Zintan. He appeared to be in good health," ICRC spokesman Steven Anderson told Reuters.
He declined to give further details on the visit to Gadafy's son who was captured in the southern Libyan desert on Saturday, citing the confidential nature of the independent humanitarian agency's visits to detention centres.
Reuters