The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday called for the arrest and surrender of Saif Gaddafi.
Saif is wanted on war crimes charges for allegedly suppressing opposition to the rule of his father, former Libya ruler Muammar.
On Sunday, Saif’s lawyer said his client had been released under an amnesty law passed by parliament from prison in the eastern Libyan town of Zintan, where he had been held since 2011.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in a statement called on Libya and other states to arrest Gaddafi.
Saif was freed by an armed group in western Libya where he had been held since shortly after the 2011 revolt against his late father.
He was released in the town of Zintan under an amnesty law passed by a parliament based in eastern Libya, lawyer Khaled al-Zaidi said on Sunday, adding that Saif was headed to another Libyan city that he could not name for security reasons.
Saif, 44, is the most prominent of the late leader’s children, and was touted by some as a reformist successor before the uprising six years ago in which Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed.
It is unclear what, if any, role the younger Gaddafi could play in Libya, where a complex array of armed groups and competing governments are vying for control.
Gaddafi loyalists outside Libya as well as some in the east of the country, where military commander Khalifa Haftar has been building power, have been pressing for Saif’s release amid a push from former regime figures to reassert influence.
Saif’s lawyer Zaidi said Saif could play an important part in national reconciliation efforts because he was popular in Libya: “He will play a pivotal and detailed role in this stage.”
Zaidi told Reuters in an interview in Cairo that Saif would make a statement at some point and would not be turning himself in to the International Criminal Court, which is seeking his arrest.(Reuters/NAN)
