Gaddafi’s Son to Run for President of Libya
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
In 2011, US-dominated NATO raped and destroyed Libya, turning Africa’s most developed/stable nation into a living hell, a failed state.
Today it’s plagued by endless violence, chaos, mass impoverishment, deprivation, instability, political power split between Tobruk and Tripoli, along with various rival factions vying for local control, including US-supported terrorists.
US-orchestrated aggression on Libya remains one of history’s great crimes.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was part of his father’s inner circle - serving in a diplomatic and public relations capacity, holding no official government position.
Earlier mentioned as a possible future Libyan leader, he rejected the notion. Following US-led NATO aggression, he was arrested, detained, tortured, tried, imprisoned and sentenced to death.
At the time, his lawyer John Johns said proceedings against him amounted to an illegitimate extrajudicial “trial by militia,” lawyers intimidated to leave the case, judges pressured to convict.
Prosecutors relied solely on torture-extracted information - what no legitimate tribunal permits. Internationally recognized fair trial procedures were abandoned.
Saif’s death sentence was never carried out. Last year, he was freed after six years of brutalizing detention and imprisonment.
An outstanding politically-motivated International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest remains outstanding.
On Monday, he announced his intention to run for a Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya (PFLL) position.
He aspires to be elected Libya’s president if an election for the position is held, possibly before yearend.
On Monday, PFLL spokesman Ayman Abu Ras said Saif Gaddafi intends running for president when an election for the nation’s highest office is held, explaining he “does not aspire to power in its traditional sense,” adding:
He aims to “save Libya (and) establish peace and stability” absent in the war-torn country. His agenda includes political, security and social transformation of the country from its current violent/chaotic state.
According to his lawyer Khaled al-Ghwail, he’ll register his candidacy for president when the process officially opens, aiming to restore Libya’s lost sovereignty - victimized by US-led NATO’s killing machine.
Since released from prison in June 2017, he hasn’t appeared in public, his whereabouts unknown, despite the Tobruk-based government granting him amnesty.
According to al-Ghwail, Saif has many supporters, ordinary Libyans suffering hugely under current conditions.
Al-Ghail believes he’s “capable of uniting Libyans around himself on the basis of national interests and those decisions that the Libyans themselves will take.”
Given chaotic conditions in the country, his whereabouts unknown for safety reasons, it requires a giant leap of faith to believe he can change things by himself with support from unclear numbers ordinary powerless Libyans.
Al-Khwail believes if he returns to the country publicly, he’ll be assassinated. If arranged, he’ll address Libyans on national television.
For now, others are working on his behalf, “patriotic young people,” al-Khwail called them.
Libya remains a cauldron of endless violence and turmoil. US-dominated NATO bears full responsibility for its current state.
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