Former Gadaffi air force chief rumoured to have returned to Libya

Gaddafi's last commander of his air force Ali Sharif Al-Rifi fled Libya in 2011 but is now reported to have returned to his home town of Waddan in the Al-Jufra area.

Al-Rifi fled in 2011 as Tripoli fell. He is thought to have fled over the border into Niger where he met the Tuareg leader and Gaddafi loyalist Ali Kana. Al-Rifi had previously served in the 1986-87 war with Chad, during which Khalifa Hafta,r now commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), was captured. The LNA are the armed forces of the eastern-based House of Representatives (HoR) government. After being captured, Haftar and his mean were abandoned by Gaddafi. At the time, Al-Rifi had been a ground forces commander during the war, organizing logistics and reinforcements from the central desert area of Al-Kufra.

Al-Rifi later moved to the Niger capital Niamey where he was a close associate of Saadi Gaddafi the third son of Moammar Gaddafi the former Libyan leader. On the the fifth of March of 2014 Saadi was arrested in Niger and extradited to Libya to face murder charges. His lawyer Nick Kaufman protested that it was doubtful if the process was legal as it was not clear that there was any court hearing or if Gaddafi was allowed a lawyer. In August 2015 video appeared that purported to show Saadi being tortured in prison in Libya. It is not known if at the time of Saadi's arrest if Al-Rifi stayed in Niger.

The second son of Gaddafi Saif al-Islam is also apparently free in Libya. He was released from prison in Zintan by the brigade that held him allegedly under an amnesty law passed by the House of Representatives. However, this was over a week ago and there have been no confirmed reports of his whereabouts. Former security chief Abduallah Senussi and other regime figures were also released from Habda prison and are thought to be free in Tripoli.

Back in March, the head of the Libyan National Army’s air force Major-General Saqr Geroushi is reported to have suffered a heart attack and to have been put in intensive care in Marj hospital. Geroushi has been one of Haftar's right hand men since the start of Haftar's Operation Dignity in May of 2014. He has had the heart condition for some time and had been in Jordan for treatment for part of 2016. Now that Al-Rifi is back in Libya he may perhaps take on some of the duties of Geroushi if he is still recovering. Members of the old Gadaffi regime appear to be welcomed back by Haftar and some may play a key role in Libya's future if Haftar has his way.

A recent tweet confirms the return of Al-Rifi showing his return to an airbase in al-Jufra: "Ali Sharif Al-Rifi, Kadhafi’s airforce commander, arriving in Jufrah airbase. He fled in Niger in 2011 then Egypt & came back in east Libya."

Second son of Gaddafi Saif freed from jail in Libya

The second son of former Libyan leader Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, is reported to have been freed under an amnesty. Saif is believed to have been the son Gaddafi preferred as his successor.

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Saif has been held by a militia group in the town of Zintan for the last six years. The militia one of the Zintan brigades are allied with the eastern commander of the Libyan National Army(LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The group just announced he had been released. However, previous reports of his release have turned out to be incorrect. In 2015 a Tripoli court sentenced Saif to death in absentia as the Zintan group refused to surrender him. Saif is wanted by the International Criminal Court(ICC) and is charged with crimes against humanity during his father's attempts to put down the rebellion against him in 2011..

Saif, now 44, was captured back in November 2011 after he had been three months on the run. Saif played a key role in building relations with the west after 2000 and according to the BBC was considered to be a reformist within his father's regime. However, during the uprising in 2011 he was accused of murdering protesters and inciting violence. No one from the UN-supported Government of National Accord(GNA) has confirmed that Saif was released.

The Libya Herald reports that Zintan is in an uproar after the reported release. Al-Ajmaj al-Aitiri who commands the Zintan Abubakr Al-Siddiq brigade that had been holding Saif, reported that he had been released and had left town. The brigade had captured Saif as he fled through the desert six years ago A statement from the brigade said that it was responding to an amnesty for political prisoners from the eastern-based House of Representatives (HoR) government. The statement added that human rights organizations and the courts should oversee the release of political prisoners. Reports about Saif have in the past turned out to be false. The Herald reports: "Last month, the Zintan military council dismissed as completely false claims by the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fateh Bensouda that Saif had survived an assassination attempt and that he had been handed over to it by Al-Atiri’s brigade."

Saif was visited at the end of last month by the under-secretary for justice from the HoR government, Eisa Alsaghuit who insisted then that he was already a free man. He also said that the view of the eastern HoR government was that Saif was free to go where he wanted. There are numerous unconfirmed reports of where he might have gone including Algeria, Beida in the east or to the south.

While some Zintanis appear angry at Saif's release in the southern city of Sebha there was celebratory gunfire. A recent tweet confirms the Sebha reaction: "Celebratory gunfire can be heard throughout Sebha news that Seif Al Islam AlGafdafi is free.". Another tweet is from the Zintan Elder's Council: "Zintan Elders Council: We refused to use Saif al-Islam #Gaddfi as a political pawn. #Libya" A final tweet suggests that Gaddafi went to Bani Walid in Libya: "Jamahiriya News Retweeted Jamahiriya News The article states that Saif left Zintan to live in Bani Walid. He is now free." We will soon see how much of this is confirmed.

Gadaffi's son Saif said to have been released from jail

Saif Gadaffi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi was reported to have been released from jail even though he was sentenced to death by a Libyan court in absentia in 2015 for crimes committed during the uprising against his father.

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Lawyer Karim Khan said Saif was given his liberty back on April 12. Khan claimed that Saif was released under an amnesty and "in accordance with Libyan law." Presumably this is a law emanating from the House of Representatives (HoR). Khan did not say whether he had spoken to Saif but said that he was well and safe within Libya.

Saif was thought to have been a likely successor to Gadaffi had he not been overthrown. He was held since 2011 by a militia in Zintan in an area not within the control of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) nor of the former Salvation government and thus his death sentence July 28, 2015 was never carried out. The court was of the former Salvation government based in Tripoli, now basically superseded by the UN-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA). The trial was condemned by Human Rights Watch, who claimed it was filled with legal flaws and amid what the group called widespread lawlessness that undermined the credibility of the judiciary.

Saif is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The court issued an arrest warrant in 2011 on preliminary charges that Saif had committed crimes against humanity, and murder as part of his father's inner circle. Khan said he will file an application to make the ICC case inadmissible on the grounds that Saif had already been tried in Libya. He claimed to try him again would be "double jeopardy" or trying a person twice for the same offence.

There are several tweets on the issue. The first one says: 1/2 Just spoke to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi attny Karim Khan who confirms his client was freed under #Libya amnesty since April 12th. The second one: ‏@FrancoisF24 2/2 Attny won't disclose #SaifAlIslam's location, says he will argue for #ICC to drop its case, argues against trying twice' .

Said has a PH.D. from the London School of Economics, Charges have been made that his thesis was plagiarized but a review panel in November of 2011 ruled that it should not be revoked.