Gadhafi’s son extradited to Libya

News greeted with cheers, honking of car horns in Tripoli

Friday, March 7, 2014

TRIPOLI, Libya - One of Moammar Gadhafi’s sons, al-Saadi, was extradited Thursday to Libya from Niger, where he had taken refuge as his father’s regime crumbled in 2011, giving rise to cheers from Libyans as the government prepares to prosecute him for his purported role in trying to suppress the uprising against Gadhafi’s rule.

Al-Saadi becomes the second son of the ousted and slain leader to be held in custody in Libya. His brother, Seif al-Islam, was captured in 2011 and has been held in a western mountain prison by a militia that is putting him on trial, refusing to hand him over to the central government for trial.

At the time of the revolt that toppled his father, al-Saadi headed a brigade of special forces that was involved in the crackdown against protesters and rebels. But he is perhaps even more notorious among Libyans for his career in soccer, the country’s most popular sport.

A playboy with a lavish lifestyle, al-Saadi treated the country’s soccer league as his personal fiefdom. He played for several Libyan teams - and for an Italian team until he failed a drug test. At various times, he headed the country’s soccer federation and its national team.

In one case, security forces opened fire on fans in a 1996 match attended by al-Saadi, killing a number of people under murky circumstances. He also is suspected in the 2005 killing of Bashir al-Riyani, a popular Libyan soccer player who was a vocal critic of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.

On Thursday, cars honked horns in celebration in the streets of the capital, Tripoli, when his extradition was announced in the early hours of the morning. In the evening, fireworks went off as people cheered and waved flags in the street, according to footage on Libya’s Al-Ahrar TV. A group of soccer players held a public memorial for al-Riyani.

“This is a joy for all Libyans,” said one Tripoli resident, al-Sharif Gheith. He said Gadhafi’s family and his regime officials are to blame for the country’s woes. “But now, thank God, they are captured and all of the country will be calm,” he said.

But Libya’s chaos has spiraled out of control in the three years since Gadhafi’s fall. Some accused the government of playing up the extradition to divert attention to its inability to bring stability.

Armed militias run rampant, the central state has little authority, and the parliament and prime minister are locked in a power struggle that repeatedly has led to violence. Last week, armed rioters stormed the parliament, killing a guard and wounding six lawmakers and forcing the legislature to move its sessions into a hotel.

“I think the government is … trying to cover up its failure,” said Sulieman al-Azabi, a lawyer and political analyst. “The role of al-Saadi and other ex-regime officials in the events now is very minor.”

A Libyan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the 40-year-old al-Saadi arrived from Niger early Thursday at the Tripoli airport and was transferred to Tripoli’s al-Hadaba prison, where most jailed ex-regime officials are being held pending trial.

Al-Sadik al-Sour, the head investigator for Libya’s prosecutor general office, said the extradition was carried out in accordance to a “judicial cooperation treaty” with Niger. “Al-Saadi is wanted and he will be tried in accordance to the human-rights standards,” he said.

Prosecutor-general Abdel-Qadir Radwan said al-Saadi faces charges in abductions and rapes during the 2011 uprising, misuse of his post and the killing of al-Riyani, according to the state news agency LANA. He said that during the revolt,al-Saadi commanded a security unit that carried out random killings as well as helped bring in mercenaries and funded other armed groups to fight rebels.

Speaking to Al-Arabiya television, Culture Minister al-Habib al-Ameen denied reports that Libya paid billions of dollars to Niger to hand over al-Saadi. Al-Saadi fled to the West African nation as his father’s rule fell, and was put under house arrest there, though Niger had until now refused to extradite him, saying he could be killed in his home country.

“Libya didn’t pay billions,” al-Ameen said, underlining there was “no deal” with Niger. “These reports are spread by those who want to seed sedition and spoil the joy of the Libyan people.”

Elsewhere Thursday, world diplomats worked to help Libya create a stable government and more secure environment amid the violence and growing political tensions in the country.

The meeting of foreign ministers, mostly from the Western and Persian Gulf states, focused largely on easing disagreements among Libya’s diverse tribal, religious and ethnic populations, looking toward writing a new constitution and holding elections this year.

The ministers also are working to secure weapons and ammunition left over from the Gadhafi regime to help bring more security to the country.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Libya is at “really a pivotal moment” and pledged to help the country move toward national reconciliation and elections while it drafts a new constitution.

“Libyans did not risk their lives in the 2011 revolution just to slip backward into thuggery and violence,” Kerry said, hours after meeting Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan and Nouri Abu Sahmein, the Islamist-leaning president of Libya’s parliament.

Information for this article was contributed by Lara Jakes of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 03/07/2014