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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Saif al-Islam was said to be fleeing across the vast Libyan desert towards Niger yesterday after escaping the carnage of Sirte.
Officials said Gaddafi’s favourite son – a British-educated playboy – was travelling in a convoy of three armoured vehicles being hunted by Nato reconnaissance planes.
If confirmed, it would be a blow to the National Transitional Council and a huge boost to the dead tyrant’s remaining supporters who would see his survival as a potential rallying point for any insurgency.
But conflicting reports emerged yesterday claiming that Saif had been captured in Zlitan, 99 miles from Tripoli, while receiving treatment for wounds.
The fall of the Gaddafi clan: Colonel Gaddafi, left, and, it is thought, his son Mutassim, centre, were both killed on the attack on Sirte yesterday. Saif al-Islam, his heir, right, is thought to have been wounded
Any escape will worry the British political elite who could face acute embarrassment if Saif was ultimately captured and ended up in court.
Saif became close to leading figures in the British government after Tony Blair signed the notorious ‘Deal in the Desert’ in March 2004.
Prince Andrew has also been linked to the bomber’s controversial release.
The Duke of York was accused of holding secret ‘detailed discussions’ over the release of the Lockerbie bomber with Saif in 2009, during an official Foreign Office-sponsored trip to Algeria.
Laid back: Gaddafi poses on a sofa in a photo taken some years ago with two of his sons, believed to be Mohammed, left, and Saif, right, and his daughter, Ayesha
His statement came after a day of rumour and conflicting reports in Tripoli that had seen Saif, 39, variously killed, fighting for his life in hospital and being held in custody.
In the hours after the deaths of Gaddafi and another son Mutassim, 34 – who had been in charge of Sirte’s defences – it was said Saif had been critically wounded when his convoy was hit by an RAF bombing raid.
Saif is thought to be trying to join up with another brother Saadi, 38, who fled to Niger in September together with other Gaddafi allies and a fortune in gold and U.S. dollars.
Mohammed, 41. Status - fled: The only child from Gaddafi's first wife, Mohammed was head of the Libyan Olympic committee and chairman of the General Post and Telecom Company which operated the country's mobile phone and satellite communications networks. He fled to Algeria after the fall of Tripoli.
Saif al-Islam, 39. Status - wounded: Gaddafi's eldest son from his second wife, Saif Al-Islam was the dictator's favourite and one-time heir apparent. Educated in London and Vienna, he was a notorious playboy. Rebels claimed to have captured him during the fall of Tripoli but he escaped the capital. Yesterday, the NTC initially said Saif fled Sirte in a convoy heading for the desert, but then announced he was shot in the leg by revolutionary fighters and taken to hospital. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity
Senussi is Gaddafi’s brother-in-law and wanted for crimes against humanity on an international arrest warrant from the war crimes tribunal.
Ten days ago both Saadi and Saif were said to have tried to strike a deal with the NTC that would have allowed Gaddafi to leave Sirte – an offer emphatically rejected.
Officials said last night that Saif was believed to have been with his father in Sirte and to have somehow escaped amid the confusion after the convoy fleeing west was twice attacked by Nato drones and warplanes.
Saadi, 38. Status - fled: A former footballer who played in Italy's Serie A league, he ran Libya's football federation and invested millions of pounds in the country's fledgling film industry. He fled to Niger in September.
Hannibal, 36. Status - fled: Violent and abusive, Hannibal was accused of beating his pregnant girlfriend in Paris in 2005 and was arrested for assaulting two servants in a Geneva hotel, but ran back to Libya after being released on bail. He ran Libya's General National Maritime Transport Company, which controlled the country's oil exports. He fled to Algeria with brother Mohammed in August.
Mutassim, 34. Status - killed: A lieutenant colonel in the Libyan army, Mutassim fled to Egypt after masterminding a failed coup against his father. He was forgiven and returned to Gaddafi's side as his national security adviser. Killed in the assault on Sirte, according to NTC officials, although conflicting reports claim he was captured alive.
THE MISSING FIRST WIFE
Fatiha, age unknown. Status - unknown:
Gaddafi's first marriage to school teacher Fatiha al-Nuri lasted less than a year.
She reputedly never met Gaddafi until the day of their wedding.
The couple had one son, Mohammed, but separated after six months and little is known of Gaddafi's first wife after their divorce in 1970.
Gaddafi's first marriage to school teacher Fatiha al-Nuri lasted less than a year.
She reputedly never met Gaddafi until the day of their wedding.
The couple had one son, Mohammed, but separated after six months and little is known of Gaddafi's first wife after their divorce in 1970.
It said planes had hit 11 vehicles in an armoured convoy speeding the late Libyan leader out of Sirte on Thursday, although Nato did not know Gaddafi was in the convoy.
The account suggested Gaddafi’s fleeing convoy was considerably larger, and more vehicles were hit, than previously reported.
Nato aircraft struck 11 pro-Gaddafi vehicles that were part of a larger group of approximately 75 vehicles near Sirte, the statement said.
‘The vehicles were carrying a substantial amount of weapons and ammunition posing a significant threat to the local civilian population. The convoy was engaged by a Nato aircraft to reduce the threat.’
Ayesha, 34. Status - fled: Nicknamed the Claudia Schiffer of North Africa, Gaddafi's glamorous blonde daughter led rallies of her father's supporters in Tripoli. The Western-educated lawyer was part of Saddam Hussein's defence team. She fled to Algeria with her mother Safiyah and brothers Mohammed and Hannibal in August, and gave birth days later.
Saif al-Arab, 29. Status - dead: Playboy Saif Al-Arab was arrested twice in Germany for an attack on a nightclub bouncer and for excessive noise from his Ferrari F430, while studying in Munich. Charges were dropped as prosecutors ruled trial was not in the national interest. He was killed in a Nato airstrike on the Gaddafi compound in April.
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The statement said that at the time of the strike, Nato did not know that Gaddafi was in the convoy, reiterating that it was not Nato’s policy to target individuals. Last night, Admiral Jim Stavridis, Nato’s top commander, said he was recommending the end of the alliance’s Libya mission calling it ‘a good day for Nato. A great day for the people of Libya’.
And Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a preliminary decision had been made to end the air operation on October 31.
In August, as Tripoli fell to rebel forces and after a day of bloody street battles in the Libyan capital, Saif boasted of victory.
Despite having been reported captured and under arrest, he appeared outside a Tripoli hotel to make a defiant speech, declaring: ‘We have broken the backbone of the rebels. It was a trap. We gave them a hard time, so we are winning.’
Gaddafi’s other children have all fled the country or been killed or captured during the civil war. It is not known where either of his two wives are.
Khamis, 28. Status - dead: Gaddafi's youngest son led his own feared army unit, the Khamis Brigade, which was infamous for torture and intimidation. He was killed in fighting during the fall of Tripoli
Safiyah, 60s. Status - fled: Nurse Safiyah Farkash al-Baraasi met Gaddafi when he had his appendix removed in 1969 and the couple were married for 40 years. She is the mother of seven of his eight biological children, and the couple also adopted two children, a son and a daughter. Shopaholic Safiyah was reputed to have used Gaddafi's private jet for shopping trips to Europe, and owned airline Buraq Air. Her personal wealth has been estimated at £19billion, including 20 tons of gold. She fled to Algeria with Gaddafi's daughter Ayesha in August.
Hana, mid-20s. Status - unknown: Gaddafi said his adopted daughter was killed in a 1986 U.S. air strike, but in August it emerged she may have lived and become a doctor
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