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| Moammar Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, waves to troops in Libya on Aug. 23, 2011. He had not been seen since he went underground after the country's capital, Tripoli, fell to revolutionary forces in August. (Dario Lopez-Mills/Associated Press) |
A spokesman for the Libyan fighters who captured him said Seif al-Islam was detained about 50 kilometres west of the town of Obari with two aides as he was trying to flee to neighbouring Niger, but the country's acting justice minister later said the convoy's destination was not confirmed.
The International Criminal Court had charged Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam and Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi with crimes against humanity for the brutal crackdown on dissent as the uprising against the regime began in mid-February and escalated into a civil war.
Seif al-Islam's capture leaves only al-Senoussi at large.
Mohammed al-Alagi, the National Transitional Council's justice minister, told The Associated Press that Seif 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.
Seif al-Islam was being held in Zintan but would be transported to Tripoli soon, according to al-Alagi.
A spokesman for the Zintan brigades, Bashir al-Tlayeb, who first announced the capture at a press conference in Tripoli, said the NTC, which took over governing the country after Gadhafi was ousted, would decide where Seif al-Islam would be tried.
He also said that there was still no information about al-Senoussi's whereabouts.
Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, at 39 the oldest of seven children of Moammar and Safiya Gadhafi, had long drawn western favour by touting himself as a liberalizing reformer in the autocratic regime but then staunchly backed his father in his brutal crackdown on rebels in the regime's final days.
He had gone underground after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces and issued audio recordings to try to rally support for his father.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he will travel to Libya next week for talks with the country's transitional government on where Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam will be tried.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo says that while national governments have the right to try their own citizens for war crimes, he is concerned that Gadhafi will have a fair trial and that he be tried for the same charges he faces at the ICC.
"The good news is that Seif al-Islam is arrested, he is alive, and now he will face justice," Ocampo said in an interview Saturday in The Hague.
The ICC had earlier said that it was in indirect negotiations with a son of Moammar Gadhafi about his possible surrender for trial.
© The Associated Press, 2011The International Criminal Court had charged Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam and Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi with crimes against humanity for the brutal crackdown on dissent as the uprising against the regime began in mid-February and escalated into a civil war.
Seif al-Islam's capture leaves only al-Senoussi at large.
Mohammed al-Alagi, the National Transitional Council's justice minister, told The Associated Press that Seif 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.
Seif al-Islam was being held in Zintan but would be transported to Tripoli soon, according to al-Alagi.
A spokesman for the Zintan brigades, Bashir al-Tlayeb, who first announced the capture at a press conference in Tripoli, said the NTC, which took over governing the country after Gadhafi was ousted, would decide where Seif al-Islam would be tried.
He also said that there was still no information about al-Senoussi's whereabouts.
Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, at 39 the oldest of seven children of Moammar and Safiya Gadhafi, had long drawn western favour by touting himself as a liberalizing reformer in the autocratic regime but then staunchly backed his father in his brutal crackdown on rebels in the regime's final days.
He had gone underground after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces and issued audio recordings to try to rally support for his father.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he will travel to Libya next week for talks with the country's transitional government on where Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam will be tried.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo says that while national governments have the right to try their own citizens for war crimes, he is concerned that Gadhafi will have a fair trial and that he be tried for the same charges he faces at the ICC.
"The good news is that Seif al-Islam is arrested, he is alive, and now he will face justice," Ocampo said in an interview Saturday in The Hague.
The ICC had earlier said that it was in indirect negotiations with a son of Moammar Gadhafi about his possible surrender for trial.
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