Photo – BBC
Saadi Gaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was extradited from Niger on Thursday and returned to his native Libya. He is currently being held in custody in Tripoli, charged with shooting protesters and repression during the 2011 uprising.
“Saadi Gaddafi was handed over to the Libyan government on 6th March. He has arrived in the country and is in the custody of the judiciary’s police,” a government statement said.
Pictures circulating on the internet, posted by the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade, show Saadi in a prison uniform having his beard and head shaved after arriving in Tripoli.
Saadi Gaddafi, who is known for his brief career in Italian football, is being held in accordance with “international standards regarding the treatment of prisoners”, said the Libyan government.
Saadi is not wanted by the international criminal court, unlike Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam. But Libya wants to try him for allegedly misappropriating property by force and for alleged armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation.
The ICC has indicted Saif al-Islam for crimes against humanity. Saif, once viewed as a likely successor to his father, is held by a militia in western Libya where he is being tried for various charges.
He arrived on Wednesday night at Mitiga air base before being taken, manacled and blindfolded, to Tripoli’s Al-Hadhba prison, deputy defence minister Khaled al-Sherif said.
A spokesman for the attorney general said Saadi faces several charges, including “crimes to keep his father in power”.
Seddik al-Sour told AFP the charges include involvement in the 2005 murder of a former coach of Tripoli football club Al-Ittihad.
Lawyer Nick Kaufman, who has previously represented Saadi and other family members, condemned Niger’s actionn, calling it a “rendition”.
“I don’t think that Saadi Gaddafi was afforded any form of legal process in Niger before his rendering to Libya,” Kaufman said.
Niger had previously refused Libyan requests to extradite him, with the justice minister saying he was “certain to face the death penalty”.
A group of NGOs in Niger also condemned the extradition, warning that “the life of Saadi Gaddafi is under threat in Libya, which is a non-state with no security.”
Since the 2011 uprising, Libya’s new government has sought the extradition of several Gaddafi family members and ex-officials, with mixed success.
Libya had repeatedly called for Saadi’s extradition from Niger, which had granted him asylum on “humanitarian” grounds saying it had insufficient guarantees he would have a fair trial.
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