Saif Al-Islam, Son Of Former Libyan Ruler Gaddafi, Runs For President

Tripoli: The son of Dictator late Libya Muammar Gaddafi appeared for almost the first time in a decade on Sunday to register as a presidential candidate for the election of December which was planned to help end the years of chaos since his father was overthrown.
Saif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi, 49, appeared in the Video of the Election Commission in traditional chocolate robes and turban, and with a gray beard and glasses, signing documents in the center of elections in the southern city of Sebha.

Gaddafi is one of the most prominent – and controversial figures that are expected to be done for the President, a list which also includes the East Military Commander Khalifa Haftar, Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh.

However, while his name is one of the most famous in Libya, and even though he once played a major role in forming a policy before the rebellion supported by NATO 2011 which destroyed his family’s regime, he was almost not seen for a decade.

The formal entry becomes the election whose rules are still contested by Libyan fight factions can also ask new questions on contests that display candidates seen in some unacceptable areas.

Apart from public support Most of the Libyan factions and foreign powers for elections on December 24, voting remains doubtful as a rival entity fighting on rules and schedules.

A large conference in Paris on Friday agreed to give sanctions to anyone who disturbed or prevented the vote, but with less than six weeks to leave, there was still no agreement about the rules to organize who should be able to run.

While Gaddafi tended to play in nostalgia for the era before the revolt supported by NATO 2011 which swept his father from power and delivered in a decade of chaos and violence, analysts said he might not be proven to be a front runner.

The era of Gaddafi is still remembered by many Libyans as one of the harsh autocracy, while Saif Al-Islam and former regime figures have lost power so they may find it difficult to mobilize a lot of major support as the main rival.

Muammar Al-Gaddafi was arrested outside his hometown in Sirte by opposition fighters in October 2011 and sunbathing. Saif Al-Islam was confiscated for days later by fighters from the Zintan Mountain area as he tried to escape Libya for Niger.

Only more than a decade later, Saif Al-Islam now is cipher for Libya. Zintan’s fighters kept it for years from public vision and his views on the crisis were unknown.

He gave an interview to the New York Times earlier this year, but had not made public appearance directly talk to Libya.

It made it difficult for his president’s ambition, Gaddafi was tried in absentia in 2015 by the Tripoli court where he appeared through Videolink from Zintan, and who sentenced him to death because of war crimes including the murder of demonstrators during the rebellion during 2011.

He is likely to face another arrest or danger if he appears in public in the capital of Tripoli. He was also sought after by an international criminal court.

Educated at the London School of Economics and Fluent English speakers, Saif Al-Islam was seen by many governments as a Libyan face that was acceptable and friendly, and the possibility of a heir.

But when the rebellion broke out in 2011 against the long rules of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif Al-Islam immediately chose family loyalty and clan for many of his friendship in the West, told Reuters television: “We fight here in Libya”.