Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Defiant Saif al-Islam refutes capture claims

Gaddafi's eldest son, Mohammad, who was also detained by rebels on Sunday night is reported to have escaped.In an interview with Al Jazeera after he surrendered, Mohammad expressed his "sadness" at the fighting in Libya. The interview was interrupted by gunfire.

"What's happening in Libya is very upsetting. The killing between brothers, between Muslims, is something that saddens me," he said.

Mohammad was the chairman of Libya's main state-run telecommunications firm, but his role in his father's government was reportedly minimal, far smaller than Saif al-Islam's.

The biggest question is now about Muammar Gaddafi himself, last heard in a brief audio recording on Sunday night. He called on Libya's tribes to March on the capital.

"How can you allow Tripoli to be burned?" he asked.

Three other Gaddafi sons - Hannibal, Mutasim and Khamis - have not been located. Hannibal had little role in politics, but Khamis headed a feared army unit that took a leading role in suppressing protests. Mutasim was an army officer and a security adviser to his father.

The Al-Arabiya news network reported on Monday that Khamis was travelling to central Tripoli with soldiers loyal to him. That report could not be immediately confirmed.

Abdullah al-Senussi, Gaddafi's longtime intelligence chief and brother-in-law, also seems to have eluded the rebels.

He was last seen at Tripoli's Rixos Hotel on Sunday, when he told foreign journalists that "Western intelligence" was "working alongside al-Qaeda to destroy Libya".

There are rumours in Arabic newspapers that Senussi fled Tripoli, either to southern Libya or to the Tunisian town of Djerba, but those reports cannot be substantiated.

Senussi was the third Libyan official charged by the ICC in June. The court accused him of carrying out a campaign of murder, mass arrest and torture.

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