Seif al-Islam, the son of former Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi who is internationally wanted for war crimes, has expressed ambitions for the presidency.

In an interview published on Friday with the New York Times, the Gaddafi son, who has not appeared in public for years, said that the Libyan politicians of the past ten years had brought “nothing but misery” to the country.

Now it is "time to return to the past".

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is looking for al-Islam for alleged war crimes.

A court in Tripoli also sentenced him to death in absentia in 2015.

He was "confident that these legal problems can be negotiated away" if a majority of Libyans want him "as their leader," al-Islam told the newspaper.

Seif al-Islam has long been considered a possible successor to his father.

Before the revolt against Gaddafi, he was seen as a proponent of rapprochement with the West and an opening up of the system, but after the protests began in February 2011 he advocated cracking down on the opposition.

Seif al-Islam was also caught a month after his father's death in October 2011.

Until the current interview, which according to the newspaper was conducted in a villa in the Libyan city of Sintan, there had been no public sign of life from the Gaddafi son since June 2014.

In the interview he said that the militiamen who once arrested him are now his "friends".

He is a free man who is organizing his return to politics.

Since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been characterized by violent conflicts and power struggles.

Foreign troops and mercenary groups, for example from Russia and Turkey, are also involved in local fighting.

Parliamentary elections are planned for December 24th under the current transitional government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

A ceasefire that has been in force in the country since October is considered fragile.