Former dictator’s son, who is wanted for war crimes, had been held since 2011 revolution in which his father was killed

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A Libyan militia says it has freed Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most prominent son of the country’s late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, after more than five years in captivity.

The Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Brigade, based in Zintan, said it released Saif under an amnesty law passed last year by the eastern-based parliament.

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“We have decided to liberate Saif al-Islam Muammar Gaddafi. He is now free and has left the city of Zintan,” the militia said in a statement.

However, it is unclear whether Saif has left Zintan, and his freedom in Libya is partial. While the eastern parliament in Tobruk, to which Zintan is aligned, says he is a free man, Tripoli’s UN-backed government still considers him a war criminal, after a court sentenced him to death, in absentia, in 2015 for crimes during the revolution.

If Saif leaves Libya, he may also face arrest on an indictment from the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His British lawyer, Karim Khan QC, said he was unable to confirm or deny reports of Saif’s freedom, but added he was in regular contact with his client, last visiting him in the autumn.

“I met him in Zintan and I’ve been in contact with him in relation to this issue,” he said. “He was in good physical health, I had lunch with him in Zintan and sat for several hours.”

Saif al-Islam, whose name means sword of Islam, was once considered heir apparent to his late father. Before the 2011 Arab spring revolution he lived in a £10m mansion in Hampstead, London, was awarded a controversial doctorate from the London School of Economics and had contacts including the billionaire hedge fund investor Nat Rothschild, Labour peer Peter Mandelson and architect Norman Foster.

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He had no formal job under his father’s regime, but before the revolution had called for democratic reforms. During the uprising, however, he demanded harsh measures against rebel forces.

When Libyan rebel forces, backed by Nato airstrikes, captured Tripoli in late 2011 he fled south, and was captured in the Sahara by the Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Brigade.

Saif could potentially emerge as a political actor in Libya’s chaotic and changing fabric, with tribes who formally backed his father likely to support him, along with some militias who once fought against his father.

The country has been ravaged by civil war, with Tobruk forces in recent weeks capturing key airbases in the interior.

Saif’s release comes a year after Tobruk forces allowed his mother, Safia, to visit eastern Libya, and follows a ruling in March by the European court of justice to lift a travel ban on Saif’s sister Aisha, who lives with her mother in Oman.

Two of Saif’s brothers, Mutassim and Khamis, died in the revolution, while a third, Hannibal, lives in Lebanon. His youngest brother, Saadi, is detained in Tripoli awaiting trial on war crimes charges.