UK warns Libya Gaddafi’s son must not face ‘extra-judicial assassination’

Libya was today warned the UK will not tolerate the “extra-judicial assassination” of Seif al-Islam after reports emerged that he had been captured.

Libyan militia commander Bashir al-Tlayeb told a press conference that the son of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi was captured in Southern Libya with two aides, who were trying to smuggle him out to neighbouring Niger.

He is being taken to the city of Zintan in Northern Libya and is in good health, according to the National Transitional Council’s Mohammed al-Allagui.

Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell said Libya must now prove it deserves its place among “civilised nations” by following “due process” in dealing with Seif al-Islam, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

He said: “The government of Libya is on trial. Anything other than due process should not be tolerated.

“The UK did not commit in Libya to tolerate extra-judicial assassination as happened with his father.

“If Libya wishes to take its place among civilised nations it must take this opportunity to demonstrate it’s commitment to the rule of law.”

As Gaddafi’s most high-profile son, Seif al-Islam was regarded as the presumptive heir.

He always denied such an ambition but was a key member of his father’s inner circle. He had friends in high places and repeatedly courted scandal.

In February he told Libyans on state-run television that “rivers of blood” would flow with “thousands” of deaths if the uprising did not stop.

His PhD from the London School of Economics was shrouded in controversy, even prompting the British ambassador to the US to deny claims he helped the dictator’s son with his thesis.

At the time the Foreign Office confirmed that Sir Nigel Sheinwald met him during his time at the LSE but said he did not play any part in the writing of his thesis.

In March this year Sir Howard Davies resigned from his post of director at the LSE over the university’s links to the Gaddafi family.

At the time he said the decision to accept £300,000 funding from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation in 2009, had “backfired” and expressed regret that he had visited Libya to advise the regime about how it could modernise its financial institutions.

It was announced an independent inquiry into the extent of LSE’s links with Libya would be conducted by former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf.

In 2009 Seif al-Islam reportedly attended a shooting party at Lord Rothschild’s Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, which was also attended by Lord Mandelson when he was Business Secretary.

Lord Mandelson and Seif al-Islam reportedly met at Lord Rothschild’s villa in Corfu, days before the announcement that Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was to be freed on compassionate grounds.

Seif al-Islam later accompanied the dying terrorist back to Libya.

In London he apparently enjoyed a playboy lifestyle. Two years ago he moved into a multi-million pound house in Hampstead and threw a lavish party in Montenegro for his 37th birthday, to which Lord Rothschild and his business associate Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska were reportedly invited.

Earlier this year David Miliband said it was “horrific” that Seif al-Islam delivered a London School of Economics (LSE) lecture in his late father’s name.

The Ralph Miliband memorial lecture was given by Seif al-Islam last May.

Asked on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show about the memorial lecture, former Labour foreign secretary Mr Miliband said: “It’s horrific. The idea of Seif Gaddafi giving a lecture under his name is just horrific to him and horrific to the whole family obviously.”

During the civil war Seif al-Islam became one of the main spokesmen for his father’s administration.

When Tripoli seemed set to fall to the rebels, he appeared outside a hotel in the city meeting loyalists and talking to Western reporters.

Local reports suggest he was also in Sirte where his father was discovered and killed.

Libyan officials said he was wounded when he was captured by freedom fighters and is recovering in hospital.