To Little Fanfare, Muammar el-Qaddafi’s Son Is Freed in Libya
According to the new law, Libya’s eastern government can no longer pursue political figures such as Mr. Qaddafi, said Saleh Hashem, one of the lawmakers who helped write it, adding: "The state has given up the right to prosecute,
but people can still sue them." Please verify you’re not a robot by clicking the box.
By NOUR YOUSSEFJUNE 10, 2017
CAIRO — A son and the onetime heir apparent of Libya’s deceased former dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was quietly released on Friday by the militia
that had held him captive since the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, which ended his family’s brutal rule.
On Saturday, the group announced that it released Mr. Qaddafi to comply with a new law issued by Libya’s eastern
government, which rights activists say seeks to rehabilitate and return Qaddafi-era figures to political life.
In an online statement on Saturday, the militia, the Abu Bakr Sadeek Brigade of the northwestern
city of Zintan, said they allowed Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi to leave the city on Friday.
The country is mainly divided between three factions: an internationally recognized
but weak government in Tripoli; a rival Islamist body, also in Tripoli; and an anti-Islamist government in the east.
In its statement on Saturday, the militia, which says it no longer recognizes the authority of the Islamist government in Tripoli,
urged other armed groups holding "political prisoners who fall under the jurisdiction of the law" to follow its lead.