SOUTH AFRICA/FILE: Niger offers asylum to Saadi Gaddafi

Record ID: 235362

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA/FILE: Niger offers asylum to Saadi Gaddafi
  • Date: 13th November 2011
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (FILE - AUGUST 23, 2011) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF SON OF MUAMMAR GADDAFI, SAIF AL-ISLAM, STANDING INSIDE VEHICLE (DOOR OPEN) GREETING SUPPORTERS ARMED MEN AND SUPPORTERS CHEERING MORE OF SAIF AL-ISLAM
  • Embargoed: 28th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, Libya
  • City:
  • Country: South Africa Libya
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5P8VCXHVMZYPBDT5M278OTRE9
  • Story Text: Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi is in Niger, offered asylum for humanitarian reasons, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Friday (November 11).
    "We have already welcomed Libyan refugees for humanitarian reasons. Of these, one is a son of Gaddafi, Saadi Gaddafi," he told a news conference on a trip to South Africa.
    The announcement will strain already troubled relations between Niger and Libya's interim rulers, who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi after an eight month uprising and want both sons to stand trial for alleged atrocities.
    Saadi, a businessman and former professional footballer, is in Niger after escaping across the border from Libya when National Transitional Council (NTC) forces captured the capital Tripoli in August.
    Interpol has issued a "red notice" requesting member states to arrest Saadi with a view to extradition if they find him on their territory.
    Libya's interim justice minister on Friday questioned Niger's grounds in granting asylum on humanitarian grounds, saying it was usually given to people facing persecution in their own country.
    Issoufou said he did not know the location of Saif al-Islam who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity.
    Niger is a member of the Hague-based global court and officially would have to hand over Saif al-Islam if he arrived on its territory.
    The ICC says it has been in indirect contact with Saif al-Islam to discuss him giving himself up.
    He is believed to have been deep in the Libyan desert.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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