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06 September 2021 Libyan authorities released Al-Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after seven years of detention in Tripoli's al-Hadaba prison. The 47-year-old, a former footballer (also in Italy) and former president of the Libyan football federation, was in prison after being accused of crimes against protesters, as head of a special force involved in the repression of the protests that led to the fall of the 2011 regime.
After fleeing to Niger during the Arab Spring, Al-Saadi Gaddafi was extradited to Libya in March 2014 and detained there until Sunday. During his father's regime he was known for his lavish lifestyle, but also because he treated the Libyan football league as his own 'kingdom'.
Dictator Muammar Gaddafi had eight children, most of whom held leading roles in the regime. His son Muatassim was killed in the same circumstances as his father, while Seif al-Arab and Khamis had been killed earlier in the riots. Seif al-Islam, considered the heir of the rais, remains in Libya, after his release from 2017, Hannibal would be detained in Lebanon. The other sons and daughters, as well as other family members, are at liberty, having obtained asylum in Algeria and Oman.
One Gaddafi returns free and another dreams of retracing his father's footsteps. The news of the release of Al-Saadi Gaddafi, together with that of the former personal secretary of the Colonel, Ahmed Ramadan, was welcomed by those nostalgic for the regime who dream of returning to Tripoli from the front door: with the success of the planned elections the December 24th. For months, in fact, rumors of an imminent official announcement of the candidacy of the 'dolphin' of the former rais, Saif al-Islam, have been bouncing from Libya, almost 10 years after the capture and killing of the colonel.
The release of Saadi and the increasingly insistent news about Saif are the signal that the wind in Tripoli for the Gaddafians is perhaps changing. The former footballer from Perugia, Udinese and Sampdoria would have immediately flown to Istanbul. According to local sources, his release was the result of negotiations in which interim prime minister Abdl Hamid Dbeibah and former interior minister Fathi Bashagha played an important role.