Libya's NTC aims to avoid a mob justice end for Seif Al-Islam whose father urged him not to pity his gruesome fate, notes Gamal Nkrumah Caught unawares, betrayed by one of his closest comrades, in the inhospitable terra incognita of Libya's southern wastelands, Seif Al-Islam (Sword of Islam) had little time to formulate a battle cry. His was a posture poised not to conquer, but for a chastening capitulation. In a mortifying replay of his father's ignominious impoundment, he failed to rally the loyal legions. Yet he did his best to spin the underhanded incitement by his captors to renounce his father's legacy. A solemn reminder of his abductors' political acumen, he was snared in a patch of hostile soil that he naively claimed as his own. An emaciated, bearded 40-year-old figure draped in the traditional dun garb of the ethnic Tuaraeg of the Sahara dusted off the ceremonial portion of the process of his abduction and disgraceful seizure with remarkable polish. It is very unlikely that it would have crossed Seif Al-Islam Gaddafi's quick mind that the new rulers of Libya, his father's former fiefdom, the National Transitional Council (NTC) had found a cunning disguise for his capture. In the decades of totalitarianism, despotism and dictatorship during the 42-year iron-fisted rule of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his eldest son from his second wife Safiya was the acceptable face of the regime. The London School of Economics (LSE) educated engineer, lawyer and political scientists was the acceptable face of his father's regime. Armed with a doctoral thesis from the LSE, and rubbing shoulders with a curious clique, a coterie of Western characters and business associates, Seif Al-Islam Gaddafi learnt that it takes a long time to build a reputation as a liberal, let alone that of a political reformer. He courted, or perhaps was courted by the likes of his business associate Lord Rothschild and the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. He spent a great deal of time closeted with Western magnates on whom he lavished special honours and attention. In the end these silver-tongued deceivers deserted him. Seif Al-Islam is facing the death penalty and out of black humour or bleak despair he blamed the high-tech NATO "Crusaders" for his deplorable downfall. He knew an ambush when he saw one. He had engaged in hostilities against the NTC, but like his father he was vain to the point of delusion. The handsome heir apparent was ultimately inadequately qualified to lead his father's small band of faithful loyalists. Seif Al-Islam was mobbed by members of the NTC's Liberation Army but security officers promptly surrounded him with a human shield to protect him from reliving his father's fate. Over the summer and fall a flurry of envoys dispatched by Seif Al-Islam travelled back and forth between first Tripoli, then when it fell in August, to Bani Walid and finally to the wilderness of Fezzan on the one hand, and Benghazi, the initial NTC headquarters, on the other. Threats and false promises from the NTC matched proposals from Seif Al-Islam's side. For Gaddafi the father to lose his life was one thing, but to sacrifice his children, and with them his country and his very political legacy, was virtually unthinkable. He pinned his hopes on his heir apparent. He would gladly have assumed the role of sacrificial lamb in exchange for clemency for his sons, including Safiya's firstborn. The sad truth was that Gaddafi had nothing to offer the NTC. His overtures elicited icy silence. Still, some believed that his son had a stronger hand. He had to be caught and convicted. He had to surrender. Seif Al-Islam was first flown to Zintan, 150km southwest of the Libyan capital Tripoli. He is now reported to be in Tripoli, but this piece of information is as yet unconfirmed. Seif Al-Islam was apparently protected by certain clans of Al-Megarha tribe who hold the Gaddafi family in high esteem because of their stance in defence of Abdel-Baset Al-Megrahi a fellow tribesman. Al-Megrahi was not merely a kinsman, but a former Libyan intelligence chief officer who was convicted in the bombing of the US airliner Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The NTC's Justice Minister Mohamed Al-Alagi proudly announced that the anti-Gaddafi Khaled bin Al-Walid Brigade captured Seif Al-Islam. The Liberation Army is composed of rival and often contending militias, each representing either a certain city or clan. Gaddafi the father was the trophy of the Misrata Brigade, while his son was the coveted prize of the fighters of Zintan. The NTC had at their disposal a whole bag of anti-Gaddafi rants. The avaricious viragos of both Arab and Western media are making the most of the catch and the fact that this particular Gaddafi was not lynched. "We got a tip that he had been staying in his hideout for the last month," Al-Alagi snidely told Free Libya Television. "Seif Al-Islam and his fighters couldn't get away and flee to neighbouring Niger because we had a good plan. He was not hurt and will be taken safely for trial so that Libyans will be able to prosecute him and get back their money," Al-Alagi explained caustically. Libya's new NTC Information Minister Mohamed Shammam was no less vitriolic. "We will take him to Zintan for safekeeping," he initially said. "We Libyans don't oppose the presence of international monitors to monitor the trial procedures that will take place for symbols of the former regime." The NTC has announced that Seif Al-Islam will not be extradited. The new ruling clique in Libya appears to be adamantly opposed to handing Seif Al-Islam over to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC itself does not seem to be too insistent on sending Seif Al-Islam to The Hague, Netherlands, where the ICC is headquartered, for trial. "The good news is that Seif Al-Islam is arrested, he is alive and now he will face justice," ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told reporters in The Hague. Ocampo is scheduled to pay a visit to Libya in the days ahead. It is not clear whether the Libyan authorities will permit him to interrogate Gaddafi the son. The Liberation Army fighters who captured Seif Al-Islam say that he is in reasonably good health, but according to television and Internet reports, three fingers of his right hand were bandaged and there are reports that they were chopped off in vengeance of his jabbing his index finger. The late Libyan leader's son and onetime heir apparent was promptly flown on a Russian Antonov plane out of Sebha, Fezzan's capital, accompanied and closely watched by his captors. Seif Al-Islam was found with a pitifully tiny $4,000 haul. The NTC is insistent that the alleged Gaddafi fortune be returned to the Libyan people. Perhaps out of spite, the NTC might just as well be throwing sand in the Gaddafi's clan's face. There is some symbolic significance in Seif Al-Islam wearing the traditional Tuareg garb. The loyalty of tribes in southern Libya to the new NTC government of Prime Minister Abdel-Rahim Al-Keib is still unclear. The Tuareg were among Gaddafi's most ardent supporters. Yet they failed to come to the rescue of their beloved boss. Thunderous celebratory gunfire greeted the news of Seif Al-Islam's capture in Tripoli and Benghazi. News of the capture in Sebha of Abdallah Al-Senousi, Gaddafi's intelligence chief who appeared not to lose his colossal self-possession, triggered another round of celebratory artillery fire. To the end, the Gaddafis proved overly trusting. Their followers fear, however, that with the capture of Seif Al-Islam, the Gaddafis are on the road to irrelevance. The NTC cannot now afford to see the supposed Gaddafi treasures they claim to so urgently need to settle their affairs of state go up in flames or disappear without a trace in the desert or in secret offshore bank accounts. They will be obliged to cooperate with Seif Al-Islam and Al-Senousi, so far as their honour allows.
