Friday, October 28, 2011

Saif Gaddafi on the run





Gaddafi's son Saif once said "We fight here in Libya, we die here in Libya". But it didn't work out that way. His father and three of his brothers all died on home soil but not Saif - he headed for the hills and now wants to surrender to the International Criminal Court (ICC).


As the heir apparent, Saif was educated at the London School of Economics and was once seen by many western politicians as a moderate, acceptable alternative to his father, but when the rebellion broke, he decided to side with his family and stay to the end.


Saif once pushed for more media freedom in Libya and wanted a Constitution drawn up. The country was suffering badly from US and European sanctions in 2004 and Saif was instrumental in getting them lifted. In exchange, he promised that Tripoli would discontinue all weapons of mass destruction. This indeed was a sign that Libya was 'doing the right thing' and British PM Tony Blair was so pleased, he went to Tripoli to shake Gaddafi senior's hand.


Fluent in English, German and French, Saif knows a lot of important people but will they help him now? He's asking for an aircraft to take him out of Libya so he can turn himself into the Hague war crimes court.


It's rather ironic that the governments who were once his friends, bombed his father's regime into oblivion. Now they will have the difficult job of deciding whether it's legally possible to transfer to sins of the father onto the head of his son.




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