An official of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Wednesday that Saif al-Islam, the only one of Muammar Gaddafi’s eight children still on the run, had proposed surrendering to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has indicted him for war crimes.
Surrender by 39-year-old Saif al-Islam would close another chapter in the four-decade history of Gaddafi family rule. He was widely seen as Muammar Gaddafi’s favoured son and his heir apparent.
Saif al-Islam wanted to surrender to the Dutch-based ICC with his relative, former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, said Abdel Majid Mlegta, an official of the NTC which overran the last Muammar Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte a week ago.
“They are proposing a way to hand themselves over to The Hague,” said Mlegta.
The ICC indicted Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam and Senussi for their roles in using force to try to put down the uprising which began in February.
An ICC spokesman said it had no confirmation of any talks about Saif al-Islam’s surrender.
NTC officials have said Saif al-Islam is hiding in Libya’s southern desert after failing to find a safe haven in a neighbouring country like Algeria or Niger, which have offered refuge to the other four Gaddafi children who survived the eight-month civil war.