Criminal Court in Indirect Talks With Qaddafi Son, Prosecutor Says

Criminal Court in Indirect Talks With Qaddafi Son, Prosecutor Says
By J. DAVID GOODMAN
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague said on Friday that he had been in indirect contact with Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the fugitive son of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his one-time heir apparent, about turning himself in to face trial before the court.

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said in a statement that he did not know the whereabouts of Mr. Qaddafi, and he did not identify the parties who were conveying messages for him.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo also did not make clear whether the informal contacts had been initiated by Mr. Qaddafi, who has previously ridiculed the court as a tool of foreign powers hostile to the Qaddafi government. The court issued arrest warrants four months ago, at Mr. Moreno-Ocampo’s request, for Colonel Qaddafi, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi and Abdullah al-Sanousi, Colonel Qaddafi’s intelligence minister and brother-in-law, on charges of systematically killing civilians during the early days of the Libyan uprising.

There has been speculation that Mr. Qaddafi, who has eluded capture by the rebels who overthrew Colonel Qaddafi in late August, may have undergone a change of heart about turning himself over to court custody after his father was seized by rebel fighters, brutalized and killed on Oct. 20 in his hometown of Surt, an event captured on cellphone videos and widely circulated on the Internet.

“Through intermediaries, we have informal contact with Seif,” Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said. “The office of the prosecutor has made it clear that if he surrenders to the I.C.C., he has the right to be heard in court, he is innocent until proven guilty. The judges will decide.”

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo also said that the court was looking into the possibility of intercepting any plane that might be transporting Mr. Qaddafi in order to make an arrest.

Reuters, citing an unidentified member of Libya’s Transitional National Council, the interim government, reported Thursday that Mr. Qaddafi feared for his life and was seeking to arrange an aircraft to deliver him into the custody of the court from a desert hide-out in an unspecified location.

The only remaining Qaddafi son still to be accounted for, Seif has been a focal point for intense rumor and speculation during the week since Colonel Qaddafi was killed.

Officials in Niger, to the south of Libya, said that they had no information about Mr. Qaddafi’s whereabouts but that they would act on the international warrants if he were found to be in their country.

“If our armed forces intercept him, we are handing him over to the I.C.C.,” said Massaoudou Hassoumi, the chief of staff to Niger’s president, Mahamadou Issoufou. “For the moment our forces have not taken him. We have no idea if he is in Niger or not.”

Human rights groups, who have expressed growing alarm over evidence of reprisal killings and abuse committed by anti-Qaddafi forces in Libya, urged swift action in locating and arresting Mr. Qaddafi.

“The gruesome killing of Muammar Qaddafi last week underscores the urgency of ensuring that his son, Seif al-Islam, be promptly handed over,” said Richard Dicker, director of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch.

Unconfirmed news accounts from Libya and Niger have said that both Mr. Qaddafi and Mr. Sanousi, the former minister, had sought refuge in neighboring Mali and may be under the protection of the Tuareg tribesmen there who had good relations with the Qaddafi family.

Another uncorroborated account in Beeld, an Afrikaans-language South African newspaper, said that Mr. Qaddafi might be traveling under the protection of South African mercenaries, Agence France-Presse reported.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo also said that there was “a group of mercenaries” willing to move Mr. Qaddafi to an African country where the government does not cooperate with the international court. In an interview with The Associated Press before boarding a plane to China, the prosecutor said that country was “probably Zimbabwe.”

Among Seif al-Islam’s six brothers, Muatassim and Khamis, military officers who commanded their own brigades, died during the uprising. The anti-Qaddafi forces said they killed Khamis in August as he and his bodyguards tried to break through a rebel checkpoint. Muatassim died while in the custody of former rebel fighters following the battle for Surt last week.

As of a week ago, another military brother, Saadi, had sought refuge in Niger. Of Colonel Qaddafi’s other children, Mohammed, Hannibal and his daughter, Aisha, fled to neighboring Algeria, and Seif al-Arab was believed to have been killed in an air raid in Tripoli.

Marlise Simons contributed reporting from Paris, and Adam Nossiter from Tripoli, Libya.