LIBYA: Third Kadafi son is captured, rebels say
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Rebels in Libya said late Monday they had captured Saadi Kadafi, a third of Moammar Kadafi’s seven sons.
Saadi Kadafi was taken after two of his older brothers were detained earlier in the day, the head of the rebels’ National Transitional Council told Al Arabiya satelite network.
Earlier on Monday, Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil confirmed the overnight capture of two of Kadafi’s other sons, Mohammed and Seif al-Islam, and said that they were ‘under the control of the revolutionaries and ... in safe places.’
Libyan rebel TV from Doha is reporting that Masud Abd-al-Hafiz, a relative of Kadafi, also has been arrested.
Saadi Kadafi, 38, was the commander of Libya’s Special Forces. An Interpol notice was issued against him in March, and he is considered part of his father’s inner circle.
Before he returned to assist his father’s struggle against rebel forces, Saadi Kadafi was a would-be soccer star, captain of the Libya national football team, of his home club in Tripoli and president of the Libyan Football Federation. In 2003, he signed with an Italian professional team but played only one game before failing a drug test. Kadafi went on to use his family’s influence to buy his way onto some of the world’s best soccer teams, according to HBO’s Real Sports.
More recently, he was attempting to capitalize on his family’s influence to build a free-trade zone in Libya and to launch several Hollywood projects. He invested $100 million in Natural Selection, a movie company with plans to make five movies over the next 20 years, including “The Experiment’ for $12 million and the thriller “Isolation” for $3 million, according to the Wrap. Since the start of the conflict in Libya, the fate of those projects has become unclear.
CNN reported that the International Criminal Court will hold talks Monday with Libyan rebels on transferring Saadi Kadafi’s older brother, Seif Kadafi, to its custody. He is wanted on a war-crimes charge for allegedly having ordered attacks on unarmed anti-government protesters.
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-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Photo, at top: 2005 file photo of Saadi Kadafi. Credit: Dan Peled / Associated Press
Photo, at bottom: Seif al-Islam Kadafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, speaks during an interview in Tripoli in February. Credit: Mahmud Turkia / Agence France Presse/Getty Images