Gadaffi's Son Saif al-Islam Captured

Saif al-Islam is seen with a thick black beard and wearing traditional robes on a plane to Zintan

Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam has been captured, Libyan officials say. He was taken by rebel soldiers near the southern town of Obari and flown to the city of Zintan in the north. Saif al-Islam told a journalist he was well.

He is the last key Gaddafi family member to be seized or killed. Libya's new prime minister says he will get a fair trial in Libya. Saif al-Islam, 39, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity. A militia force allied to the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) said he had been captured in the desert about 50km (30 miles) west of Obari, and taken to their base in Zintan in the north.

The International Criminal Court has a warrant for the arrest of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. Ideally ICC judges would like to see him tried in The Hague. But they have quickly realized that is not likely to happen. The Libyan authorities are committed to trying members of the former regime inside Libya. Allowing Saif al-Islam to be taken out of the country would be hugely unpopular. Quite possibly the Zintan brigade soldiers who now hold him would refuse to transfer him to the central government. And Libya is not a signatory to the ICC.

So instead, the court is already working to try to ensure a fair trial inside Libya. For Saif al-islam Gaddafi a trial in his own country means he could face the death penalty. That's something that would not have happened if his father had signed up Libya to the ICC, where the maximum sentence is life in prison.

A commander of the Zintan militia, Wisam Dughaly, said Saif al-Islam had been captured along with several aides as they tried to smuggle him out to neighbouring Niger. Fighters said they were taken without a shot being fired. "At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him," one of his captors, named as Ahmed Ammar, told Reuters news agency.

Libyan TV showed pictures of Saif al-Islam on the plane to Zintan with bandages on his left hand. Asked by Reuters reporter Marie-Louise Gumuchian during the flight if he was feeling all right, he said simply: "Yes." He added that he had been injured in a Nato air strike a month ago.

Interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib told reporters in Zintan: "We assure Libyans and the world that Saif al-Islam will receive a fair trial." The Zintan fighters, who make up one of the powerful militia factions in the country, have said they plan to keep Saif al-Islam until they could hand him over to Tripoli.
Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said Gaddafi's son would face justice in Libya itself.

Old interview video with a very smug, arrogant Saif 
 
In an interview for French television Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam says that the Western powers supporting rebels inside Libya have zero chance of winning the ongoing conflict.

Saif al-Islam: ICC charges:

• Indirect co-perpetrator of murder and persecution as crimes against humanity
• Between 15 February and 28 February, Gaddafi security forces carried out systematic attacks against civilians
• Saif al-Islam "assumed essential tasks" to make sure plan worked