In London, a group of rebels invaded the home of Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam.
According to rebels, “they were acting out of solidarity with Libya and would not move until the $ 16 million the property costs to be returned to the Libyan people.”
The favourite son of Colonel Gaddafi, who played a key role in Abdelbaset Al Megrahi’s release, have a £10million home in one of London’s wealthiest and most prestigious suburbs.
The neo-Georgian eight-bedroom property bought by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in a secluded road in Hampstead, North London, boasts a swimming pool, sauna room, Jacuzzi and suede-lined cinema room where he will be able to monitor world events.
The house even has an electrically operated rubbish store, which raises and lowerseight bins into the ground before a steel plate folds over to hide them discreetly.
Saif’s new home was bought mortgage-free by Capitana Seas Ltd, a holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The property opposite was bought by Five Star Properties for £4.5million last year and is being developed by Regency Homes.
Saif’s four-level, double-fronted property has underfloor heating throughout and comes complete with two dishwashers, microwaves, as well as fridges and freezers.
A source close to the sale said last night: ‘For someone of this kind of standing, the property is ideally positioned. It is close to two golf courses and is not far from RAF Northolt, Elstree and Luton airports.
Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi (born June 25, 1972; translated as “Sword of Islam, Muammar of the Gaddafa”), is a Libyan engineer and politician. He is the second son of Muammar Gaddafi, leader of Libya, and his second wife Safia Farkash.
Squatters move into Gaddafi son's £11million mansion demanding it is 'returned to the Libyan people'
A group calling themselves ‘Topple the Tyrants’ said they had taken over the palatial neo-Georgian townhouse belonging to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, 38.
The squatters, some wearing balaclavas, draped a huge white banner across the building’s roof bearing the slogan ‘Out of Libya, out of London’ and showing Colonel Gaddafi’s face crossed with a thick red line.
Occupied: Squatters unfurl a banner on the roof of the £11m property which was on the market until last month
The house in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north London – some 1,500 miles from the Libyan capital Tripoli – has its own swimming pool and cinema, and widescreen TVs in every room.
One squatter, who called himself Montgomery Jones, said: ‘We want to make sure the property goes back into the hands of the Libyan people who deserve it.
Property: Saif al-Islam reputedly owns the Hampstead home which has been taken over by squatters
We’re here for a serious reason, we’re not here to luxuriate. I don’t think what we are doing is legal but I don’t think that’s relevant.’
Another group member, who would not give his name, said: ‘We didn’t trust the British government to properly seize the Gaddafi regime’s corrupt assets so we took matters into our own hands.’
The British government has seized more than £2billion in assets belonging to the Gaddafi family.
Four members of the group had been walking around the rooftop as officers took photos of them.
Police were called after residents in the well-to-do neighbourhood heard the burglar alarm going off.
They said they are monitoring the situation at the Hampstead property - although no arrests have been made.
The extravagant home, in one of the capital's most exclusive neighbourhoods, is fitted with a swimming pool, sauna and cinema.
It was on the market until last month but was withdrawn and instead put up for rent for more than £500,000 per year.
As well as the banner, signs on the property in English and Arabic said 'revolution' and 'solidarity'.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, 38, used to live in the capital when he was a PhD student at the London School of Economics.
His four-level, double-fronted property has underfloor heating throughout and was bought complete with two dishwashers, microwaves, as well as fridges and freezers.
Banners said 'Solidarity' and told the Gaddafi's to get 'Out of London'. The group have said they will stay until the property is returned to the Libyan people
Jones added that they had been watching the Al Jazeera news channel inside.
The activist refused to say how many people were inside.
Squatting: Group in north London home of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi said they switched on the news as soon as they got in on the extra large television
Squatters covered their faces as they clambered into the property and refused to reveal their true identities
The property is believed to be part of £300million of assets in the capital belonging to the Gaddafi family which have been seized.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said they were treating it as a civil and not a criminal matter for the time being.
Demo: The squatters clambered in through the window, and then unfurled a banner on the roof
Police presence: Officers were called to the address but they have said they are currently treating it as a 'civil matter'
Deluxe: The cinema room in the house in one of London's wealthiest and most prestigious suburbs
MYSTERY OF LIBYA'S VANISHING BANK CHIEF
Libya's central bank governor has surfaced after two weeks in the wilderness to confirm he has been in Istanbul, the Financial Times reported.
Rumours have been rife about the actions of Governor Farhat Omar Bengdara, with some speculating he may be trying to covertly get cash and assets out of Libya.
Upon identifying his whereabouts Bengdara did not reveal whether he remained loyal to Muammar Gaddafi or was siding with the opposition.
The Libyan government said on Tuesday that Finance Minister Abdulhafid Zlitni had taken over temporarily as head of the central bank because Bengdara was abroad. Bengdara's whereabouts had been unclear for the past few weeks.
The FT's website said Bengdara, who it described as 'the man who holds the keys to the Gaddafi regime's finances', had contacted the paper by email late on Tuesday to say that he had been informed of the move and that he had been in Turkey.
But he insisted that he was doing his job and was abroad because it was easier to conduct business there than in Tripoli, the FT said.
He said he would resign after the current crisis, adding that he had been working over the past two weeks to explain the central bank's position and clarify the effect of the international effort to freeze Libyan assets, the FT said.
Unicredit said a week ago that it had restored contact after a week with Bengdara, who is vice chairman of Italy's top bank in which the Libyan central bank has a stake of nearly 5 per cent.
The FT said international bankers and opposition figures have been scrambling to locate Bengdara and decipher his loyalties because they assume he is one of the few officials with the authority to move funds.
The paper said Bengdara's family comes from Benghazi, the eastern city at the centre of the rebellion against Gaddafi, but added that opposition figures abroad considered him too closely tied to the regime
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364611/Gaddafis-son-Seif-al-Islams-11m-London-mansion-taken-squatters-Topple-Tyrants.html#ixzz1ctRu7eIR
A spokesman for the Libyan fighters who captured him said Seif al-Islam, who has been charged by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, was detained about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the town of Obari with two aides as he was trying to flee to neighboring Niger. But the country's acting justice minister later said the convoy's destination was not confirmed.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told The Associated Press that he will travel toLibya next week for talks with the country's transitional government on where the trial will take place. Ocampo said that while national governments have the first right to try their own citizens for war crimes, he wants to make sure Seif al-Islam has a fair trial.
"The good news is that Seif al-Islam is arrested, he is alive, and now he will face justice," Ocampo said in an interview in The Hague. "Where and how, we will discuss it."
Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, at 39 the oldest of seven children of Moammar and SafiyaGadhafi, spent years courting Western favor by touting himself as a liberalizing reformer in the autocratic regime but then staunchly backed his father in his brutal crackdown on rebels in the regime's final days.
He had gone underground after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces in late August and issued audio recordings to try to rally support for his father. He was widely reported to have long been hiding in the besieged town of Bani Walid but escaped before it fell to revolutionary forces.
His capture just over a month after his father was killed leaves only former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi wanted by the ICC, which indicted the three men for in June for unleashing a campaign of murder and torture to suppress the uprising against the Gadhafi regime that broke out in mid-February.
"This is the day of victory, this is the day of liberation, finally the son of the tyrant has been captured," said Mohammed Ali, an engineer, as he celebrated on Tripoli's Martyrs' Square. "Now we are free, now we are free, God is Great."
Libyan state TV posted a photograph purportedly of Seif al-Islam in custody. He is sitting by a bed and holding up three bandaged fingers as a guard looks on, although it could not independently be confirmed where or when the picture was taken or how he was injured.
Other photos showed him wearing brown robes and a turban in the style of ethnic Tuaregs, a nomadic community that spans the desert border area of Niger, Mali,Libya, Algeria and Chad and long fought for his father's regime.
Adel al-Zintani, a spokesman for the revolutionary faction from Zintan, said Seif al-Islam was captured at 4 a.m. after a gunbattle.
"The Zintan revolutionaries who were guarding the southern-most borders of Libyareceived information two days ago that Seif al-Islam was planning an escape to either Niger or Algeria and they were able to find his location exactly and stop him," al-Zintani said. "He looked tired. He was wearing Tuareg clothing."
The murky circumstances surrounding the deaths of Gadhafi and another son Muatassim, and the decision to lay their bodies out for public viewing drew widespread criticism and raised questions about the commitment of Libya's new rulers to respecting human rights.
Marek Marczynski of Amnesty International urged the governing National Transitional Council to transfer Seif al-Islam to the ICC base in the Netherlands as soon as possible.
"The ICC has an arrest warrant out for him and that is the correct thing to do. He must be brought before a judge as soon as possible," he said. "It matters for the victims. What they need to see is true justice. They need to know the truth about what happened."
A spokesman for the Zintan brigades, Bashir al-Tlayeb, who first announced the capture at a press conference in Tripoli, said the NTC, which took over governing the country after Gadhafi was ousted, would decide where Seif al-Islam would be tried.
"Seif al-Islam was caught with two aides who were trying to smuggle him into Niger," al-Tlayeb said, adding that he had no information about al-Senoussi's whereabouts.
In confirming the capture, however, interim Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi told The Associated Press that Seif al-Islam was detained closer to Algeria and the convoy's destination was not known.
Seif al-Islam was being held in Zintan but would be transported to Tripoli soon, according to al-Alagi.
The White House said it was aware of the reports but had no immediate comment.
The International Criminal Court had earlier said that it was in indirect negotiations with a son of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi about his possible surrender for trial.
ICC prosecutor Ocampo said jurisdiction should not be hard to determine.
"The rules are, primacy for the national authorities, depending on if they have a case," he said.
But he added that judges at the ICC would have to formally approve a transfer of venue, under international law.
Libya's Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said the NTC had not taken an official position yet, but in his personal view, Seif al-Islam "is an outlaw and should be tried in front of the Libyan Court, by Libyan people and by Libyan justice."
The international community said the treatment of Seif al-Islam would be an important test for the role of rule of law in post-Gadhafi and key to reconciliation efforts, regardless of where he is tried.
"The Libyan authorities should now ensure that Seif al-Islam is brought to justice in accordance with the principles of due process and in full cooperation with the International Criminal Court," the European Union said in a statement.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called the arrest an important step forward as Libya tries to put its past behind it.
"I welcome the Libyan authorities' commitment to ensure his detention and trial meet international standards," Hague said. "His arrest will allow the Libyan people to move on to the challenge of rebuilding their country."
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Associated Press writers Hadeel al-Shalchi in Cairo and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
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