Libya releases Al-Saadi Gaddafi by order of the Public Prosecutor, after he was acquitted of the charge of premeditated murder

On Sunday, the Libyan authorities released Al-Saadi Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, after nearly 7 years in prison, and he immediately left the country for Turkey.

Al-Saadi was released by order of the Libyan Public Prosecutor after he was acquitted in 2018 of the charge of premeditated murder against football coach Bashir Al-Riyani, and a Libyan plane transported the released man from Mitiga International Airport in the capital, Tripoli, to Turkey.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Suhaib Jassem said that he does not know whether Turkey is Al-Saadi Gaddafi's final destination or whether he will move to another country, adding that the son of the late Libyan colonel was sentenced in 2014 in the Al-Riyani case to 5 years in prison, but the sentence was appealed to be reduced in 2018 to a year one.

The reporter added that he was supposed to be released in 2019, and indicated that there were attempts to release him at the beginning of that year, but he clarified that what hindered his release at that time was the attack of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar's forces on Tripoli from April 2019 to mid-2020.

Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the former Minister of Interior, Fathi Bashagha, addressed a letter in February of this year to the Government of National Accord in which he referred to a memorandum to implement the appeal ruling and release Al-Saadi Gaddafi, indicating that no decision was taken since then until the national unity government came and he was released. .

The reporter stated that the case in which Al-Saadi was being tried was related to the killing of Bashir Al-Riyani, and he did not face any charges related to trying to put down the February revolution, explaining that only Saif Al-Islam, who appeared recently in an interview with the New York Times, is one of the eight sons of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. (The New York Times).

For its part, Anadolu Agency quoted a Libyan government source as saying that the release of Al-Saadi Gaddafi was ordered by Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dabaiba after he met a delegation from the Qadhadhfa tribe.

In March 2014, the state of Niger handed over Saadi Gaddafi to the Libyan authorities after he fled Libya after the February 2011 revolution.