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Gahdafi's son Saadi apologies to Libya

Published

10 years ago

March 29, 2014

Libyan state television has aired a video of
Moammar Gadhafi’s son Saadi in which he apologized to the nation
from prison.
“I apologize to the people of Libya and the brothers in the Libyan state
for the disturbance and destabilization I have caused in Libya, and I
admit those were wrong things that I should not have done,” he said.
Saadi, one of Gadahfi’s seven sons, has been in a Tripoli jail since his
extradition earlier this month from neighboring Niger. The North
African country had been seeking the handover of Saadi, who fled
across the border to Niger when rebel forces toppled his father in a
NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
He has not appeared in court yet and no formal charges against him
have been announced, but the government has said it has evidence
linking Saadi Gadhafi to recent unrest in southern Libya.
“I call on all the people carrying weapons to disarm, weapons should
only be in the hands of the state,” Saadi Gadhafi, dressed in a blue
detainee suit, said in the video. “They should resort to reconciliation.”
In the three-minute video clip, he also asks the Libyan government
and general national congress, Libya’s legislative body, for
“forgiveness.”
The conditions surrounding the release of the video are unclear.
Reports of abuse
Saadi Gadhafi stated the date of March 27 in the video, and state
television said it was approved by Libya’s general prosecutor and
aimed to discredit reports and rumors Gadhafi’s son was being
mistreated in prison.
The video aired a day after former Prime Minister Ali Zeidan had
said in an interview in The Times of London newspaper that he had
heard Saadi Gadhafi was abused and tortured in prison.
Saadi Gadhafi said he was being treated well. Reports he had broken
ribs or bones were not true, he said, moving his arms around and
smiling.
No one has independently had access to him to see how he has been
treated.
There have been concerns about the legality of the video and what
impact it may have on the case.
“If I ever had any hope that there might be some form of due process
in Libya, it was shattered. … Watching Saadi repent in a videotaped
confession without any hint of legal representation made me realize
there is no hope for a trial in accordance with international law in
Libya,” Jacqueline Frazier, an American former aide to Saadi
Gadhafi, told CNN.
“I, along with his family, would like to emphasize that we believe this
confession to be coerced and therefore non admissible in a court of law.”
But many Libyans have little sympathy for him and other former
regime members in custody. They complain the prosecution of former
regime members has stalled and they want them to see them sentenced
soon. The government has promised fair and transparent trials for all
former regime members and other detainees in Libya.
Source : CNN