Libya Releases Saadi Gaddafi

A Libyan official source and a source from the unity government reported on Sunday that Libyan authorities have released Saadi Gaddafi, the son of the ousted and killed leader Muammar Gaddafi during the 2011 uprising. Saadi fled to Niger during the NATO-backed uprising but was handed over to Libya in 2014 and had been imprisoned in Tripoli since then. The official source stated that he immediately left on a plane heading to Istanbul. Libya has been experiencing chaos, division, and violence in the ten years since the uprising. The unity government was established in March as part of a peace effort that was also supposed to include the planned elections in December. The official source indicated that his release was the result of negotiations involving prominent tribal figures and Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. Another source mentioned that the negotiations also included former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha. In 2018, the Ministry of Justice stated that Saadi Gaddafi was found not guilty of murder, fraud, threats, slavery, and defamation of former player Bashir Rayani. In July, The New York Times reported that it had interviewed Saadi's brother, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who has been detained for years in the town of Zintan, where his supporters indicate that he will run in the upcoming presidential elections in December.