To Little Fanfare, Muammar el-Qaddafi’s Son Is Freed in Libya<br />According to the new law, Libya’s eastern government can no longer pursue political figures such as Mr. Qaddafi, said Saleh Hashem, one of the lawmakers who helped write it, adding: "The state has given up the right to prosecute,<br />but people can still sue them." Please verify you’re not a robot by clicking the box.<br />By NOUR YOUSSEFJUNE 10, 2017<br />CAIRO — A son and the onetime heir apparent of Libya’s deceased former dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was quietly released on Friday by the militia<br />that had held him captive since the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, which ended his family’s brutal rule.<br />On Saturday, the group announced that it released Mr. Qaddafi to comply with a new law issued by Libya’s eastern<br />government, which rights activists say seeks to rehabilitate and return Qaddafi-era figures to political life.<br />In an online statement on Saturday, the militia, the Abu Bakr Sadeek Brigade of the northwestern<br />city of Zintan, said they allowed Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi to leave the city on Friday.<br />The country is mainly divided between three factions: an internationally recognized<br />but weak government in Tripoli; a rival Islamist body, also in Tripoli; and an anti-Islamist government in the east.<br />In its statement on Saturday, the militia, which says it no longer recognizes the authority of the Islamist government in Tripoli,<br />urged other armed groups holding "political prisoners who fall under the jurisdiction of the law" to follow its lead.
