Tribesman who gave up a million to help capture Saif Gaddafi
November 23, 2011 - 11:51AMThe Sydney Morning Herald, smh.co.au.
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The village tribesman turned desert tour guide who turned in Seif al-Islam Gaddafi after being offered euros 1 million (pounds 864,000) to drive him to the Libyan border has been revealed, feted as a hero a short distance from where his captive was being held prisoner.
Yusef Saleh al-Hotmani, from Berqan deep in the Sahara, said he had been offered the money to drive Saif al-Islam and four companions to the border with Algeria and Niger.
From there, Seif al-Islam was due to be picked up and driven into exile, "to return later and claim his country", his men told the guide.
In fact, Mr Hotmani headed for a hollow in the sand dunes, where men from the Zintan Brigade were waiting.
"I thank Allah who made it possible for me to conquer this enemy," Mr al-Hotmani, his face swathed in the desert's black headscarf and a new national flag draped round his shoulders, told London's The Daily Telegraph.
"I was offered millions but all the money they had would not buy a pebble of our sand or one drop of our martyrs' blood."
Seif al-Islam was seized at 1.30am on Saturday morning, by 14 Zintan men.
He is now being held in a secret location in Zintan, south of Tripoli. In a sign of the sway the town has now won, the brigade's head, Osama Jueili, was named defence minister in Libya's new interim government on Tuesday.
Mr Jueili denied he had been offered the job in return for handing over Saif al-Islam to central government control.
He had first discussed his promotion with Abdulrahim al-Keib, the interim prime minister, 12 days ago, he said. "If they offered us a post just for this I would consider it an act of condescension," he said. "There is no benefit to Zintan to get the post of minister of defence."
Other appointments include Ibrahim Dabbashi, the deputy ambassador to the United Nations, as foreign minister. There appeared to be few posts for representatives of the Islamist factions, although they may be biding their time for the first post-election government.
Mr Jueili also confirmed that two Red Cross representatives visited Saif al-Islam on Tuesday afternoon. An ICRC spokesman, Soaade Messoudi, said the meeting happened with no guards present and that he seemed to be in good health.
At first, the Zintan brigade said it would keep the identity of the man who turned in Saif al-Islam secret for his own safety. On Tuesday, he said he had already received death threats from pro-Gaddafi supporters but no longer cared what happened.
He said he had joined a local rebel brigade at the beginning of the uprising. He was later assigned to "work in a secret way and under cover", leading to his encounter with men arranging an exit for an unnamed "VIP".
Details of the trap were set on Friday. At that stage, he did not know who the "VIP" was, but he said he had a good idea. "He didn't know that I knew it was him," he said. "Nobody told me but when I thought about it I came to the conclusion it was Seif."
He set off with two cars, Amr Abdulgasem Amr, the nephew of Colonel Gaddafi's right-hand man Abdullah Senussi, in his own, and a second containing Saif and two other men following.
He said Amr had brought with him two handguns and two hand-grenades, and he was sure he would die in the mission.
"He planned to execute me on the border," he said.
Meanwhile, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, arrived in Tripoli to discuss the trials of Saif al-Islam and Senussi, which he accepted would take place in Libya.
After a meeting, Mohammed Alagy, the justice minister, said Libya's justice system was "absolutely ready" to try Saif. He also said that the death penalty was a possible outcome.
Daily Telegraph, London
======================================================
The village tribesman turned desert tour guide who turned in Seif al-Islam Gaddafi after being offered euros 1 million (pounds 864,000) to drive him to the Libyan border has been revealed, feted as a hero a short distance from where his captive was being held prisoner.
Yusef Saleh al-Hotmani, from Berqan deep in the Sahara, said he had been offered the money to drive Saif al-Islam and four companions to the border with Algeria and Niger.
From there, Seif al-Islam was due to be picked up and driven into exile, "to return later and claim his country", his men told the guide.
In fact, Mr Hotmani headed for a hollow in the sand dunes, where men from the Zintan Brigade were waiting.
"I thank Allah who made it possible for me to conquer this enemy," Mr al-Hotmani, his face swathed in the desert's black headscarf and a new national flag draped round his shoulders, told London's The Daily Telegraph.
"I was offered millions but all the money they had would not buy a pebble of our sand or one drop of our martyrs' blood."
Seif al-Islam was seized at 1.30am on Saturday morning, by 14 Zintan men.
He is now being held in a secret location in Zintan, south of Tripoli. In a sign of the sway the town has now won, the brigade's head, Osama Jueili, was named defence minister in Libya's new interim government on Tuesday.
Mr Jueili denied he had been offered the job in return for handing over Saif al-Islam to central government control.
He had first discussed his promotion with Abdulrahim al-Keib, the interim prime minister, 12 days ago, he said. "If they offered us a post just for this I would consider it an act of condescension," he said. "There is no benefit to Zintan to get the post of minister of defence."
Other appointments include Ibrahim Dabbashi, the deputy ambassador to the United Nations, as foreign minister. There appeared to be few posts for representatives of the Islamist factions, although they may be biding their time for the first post-election government.
Mr Jueili also confirmed that two Red Cross representatives visited Saif al-Islam on Tuesday afternoon. An ICRC spokesman, Soaade Messoudi, said the meeting happened with no guards present and that he seemed to be in good health.
At first, the Zintan brigade said it would keep the identity of the man who turned in Saif al-Islam secret for his own safety. On Tuesday, he said he had already received death threats from pro-Gaddafi supporters but no longer cared what happened.
He said he had joined a local rebel brigade at the beginning of the uprising. He was later assigned to "work in a secret way and under cover", leading to his encounter with men arranging an exit for an unnamed "VIP".
Details of the trap were set on Friday. At that stage, he did not know who the "VIP" was, but he said he had a good idea. "He didn't know that I knew it was him," he said. "Nobody told me but when I thought about it I came to the conclusion it was Seif."
He set off with two cars, Amr Abdulgasem Amr, the nephew of Colonel Gaddafi's right-hand man Abdullah Senussi, in his own, and a second containing Saif and two other men following.
He said Amr had brought with him two handguns and two hand-grenades, and he was sure he would die in the mission.
"He planned to execute me on the border," he said.
Meanwhile, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, arrived in Tripoli to discuss the trials of Saif al-Islam and Senussi, which he accepted would take place in Libya.
After a meeting, Mohammed Alagy, the justice minister, said Libya's justice system was "absolutely ready" to try Saif. He also said that the death penalty was a possible outcome.
Daily Telegraph, London
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smh.com.au/world/tribesman-who-gave-up-a-million-to-help-capture-saif-gaddafi-20111123-1ntqy.html
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