NIAMEY, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Niger on Saturday denied reports
it had agreed to allow Saadi Gaddafi, one of the sons of the
late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, to leave the West African
country where he has been under house arrest after fleeing Libya
last year.
His lawyer, Nick Kaufman, had earlier told France 24
television that Niger had agreed to let his client leave the
country and that he had lodged a number of asylum claims with
other countries.
The 39-year-old businessman and former professional
footballer is not wanted by the International Criminal Court but
is wanted by Libya which wants to try him for allegedly
misappropriating properties via force and for alleged armed
intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation.
At Libya’s request, Interpol last year issued a “red notice”
requesting its member states arrest and extradite Gaddafi – but
Niger has cited various reasons for not extraditing him.
Kaufman, his lawyer, had told France 24 that it was “no
secret” that Niger had agreed to allow Gaddafi to leave. Without
citing sources, the channel said South Africa was one of the
countries considering his application.
But Marou Amadou, a spokesman for the Niger government, told
Reuters by phone on Saturday that no decision to allow Gaddafi
to leave had been taken.
“We never made a decision like this and I have no idea where
this lawyer came up with this,” he said.
Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for South Africa’s Department
of International Relations and Cooperation, also denied that his
country had received an asylum application from Gaddafi.
“We don’t have such a request,” he said, adding that rumours
Gaddafi had entered South Africa or was on his way there were
“absolutely not true”.
Continued…
