Libya confirms Gaddafi s son is in prison

Tripoli Dec 22 (IANS) Saadi Gaddafi son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is still in prison according to the director of the investigation department at the Libyan Attorney General.

Siddiq Sour told Xinhua news agency on Thursday that Saadi Gaddafi has been in prison in the Libyan capital Tripoli for three years. "He is inside prison in Tripoli and he is fine."

"The defendant Saadi Gaddafi is currently being tried for charges against him according to Libyan law " Sour added.

The Libyan official made the remarks in response to a statement on Tuesday by the Gaddafi family in which they claimed that contact with Saadi was lost a while ago.

"All the family has learned is that he is in a prison run by militias " the Gaddafi family said adding that they had lost contact with Saadi for quite a while and neither they nor his lawyer had been able to contact him.

"Despite testimonies of witnesses and consensus on his acquittal of charges against him his trial has been repeatedly postponed and he was isolated from his lawyer " the statement said.

Saadi the third son of Muammar Gaddafi was the former Deputy Commander of security units in the former regime. Libyan authorities accuse him of involvement in suppressing the 2011 uprising that overthrew his father s rule.

After losing in the fighting between Gaddafi s Army and Libyan rebels in 2011 Saadi fled to Niger which handed him over to the Libyan authorities in 2014. He has since been held captive and his trial was postponed several times.

--IANS
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