The son of the late satrap Muammar Gaddafi, Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, announced on Saturday his candidacy for the Libyan presidential elections.
Saif al Islam announced his decision during an appearance at the Sabha Electoral Center, in the south of the country, reports the ‘Libya Observer’, thus validating his promise to attend the elections, as advanced in September.
Gaddafi’s eldest son, who was considered in the past as a possible benchmark for change in the country, was sentenced to death in July 2015, after being tried in absentia, since he was detained in the town of Zintan in the hands of a group of militiamen who refused to hand him over to the Libyan authorities.
In addition, he was convicted of war crimes committed during the 2011 revolt that ended the regime of Gaddafi, who was killed by rebel militiamen in Sirte on October 20, 2011. Saif al Islam is also wanted by the International Criminal Court ( ICC) for crimes against humanity.
However, he was finally released in April 2016 as part of an amnesty granted by the government based in the east of the country during the conflict that followed the death of the satrap. Despite this, he has not been seen in public again, although in July he gave an interview to ‘The New York Times’ in which he revealed that he planned to return to politics.
Libyan intelligence sources cited by the BBC have indicated that he would be Russia’s favorite to rule the country.
