Saif al-Islam was held for six years in the town of Zintan by a Libyan militia. His release could fuel violence in Libya if he runs for a political position in an already unstable country. His lawyer confirmed that he is no longer imprisoned and will not appear in public for security reasons. According to a BBC source, he is believed to be in eastern Libya in an area called Tobruk. The ICC wanted Saif for crimes he committed during the Arab Uprising. The crimes include torture and the killing of civilians.

A brief history of Saif

Saif was born in Tripoli in 1972; he is currently 44 years old.

He is the 2nd son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He was second in command in Libya during his father's rule and was involved in Libya's diplomatic relations with the West. His father was captured in southern Libya on November 19th, 2011 by the Zintan militia during the Libyan Civil War. Saif was also captured and Sentenced To Death in absentia on July 28th, 2015 for crimes he committed during the Libyan civil war.

Saif's capture

Saif was arrested during the Lybian civil war which was a conflict between Gaddafi and protesters. Protests began on February 15th, 2011 and lasted for eight months. A few days after the conflict began, Saif announced that a commission of inquiry would be set up to investigate what was causing the violence.

Later in the month of February, he denied that the government which his father was heading was conducting airstrikes on its people and that the number of protestors that had been killed during that time was exaggerated by the western media and civil rights groups. He also blamed drunken and drugged protestors, tribal functions and Islamist terrorists for causing the violence.

Three months after the civil war began, Saif announced that elections would be held in Libya and that international observers would be invited and that his father would step down if he lost. NATO which was conducting airstrikes at that time, as well as rebels, rejected the offer. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him and his father on June 27th, 2011.

He called the ICC a fake court that is manipulated by NATO nations after NATO offered to drop ICC charges against him and his father if they agree to a secret deal. His father was captured on October 20th, 2011 and killed in a northwestern town of Libya called Misrata which is 178 kilometers East of Tripoli. Saif was arrested in the southern part of Libya one month later together with four of his aides after being betrayed by a nomad who was hired for one million Euros to guide Said and his men to Niger.

Saif's trial

In August 2012, the government of Libya announced that Saif would stand trial in Libya and not the ICC. He first appeared in court on January 17th, 2013. His trial was delayed after that, and he began appearing in court via video link because of security reasons.

He was later sentenced to death on July 28th, 2015 for war crimes. He survived an assassination attempt by a local militia group in northwestern Libya last month before being released on the 10th of this month.