GADDAFI'S SON SAIF DENIES REPORTS OF HIS ARREST

GADDAFI'S SON SAIF DENIES REPORTS OF HIS ARREST
English.news.cn 2011-08-23

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/23/c_131069196.htm

TRIPOLI, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the well-known son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, held a news conference Tuesday at his father's Tripoli bastion of Bab al-Aziziyah, denying being arrested by the rebels.

Saif claimed that the capital is still in government's control and blamed the West is using hi-tech methods to disseminate rumors among his countrymen in a bid to create chaos and an atmosphere of fear. He arrived in the bastion in a four-wheel-drive, to the cheers of dozens of awaiting supporters waving Libyan national flags and portraits of Saif and his father, whose whereabouts is still a myth. Saif said his father is still in Tripoli and safe, though the claim is hard to verify.

Earlier in the day, Saif made a brief visit to the Rixos hotel where dozens of foreign reporters are staying, arriving in a convoy of armored Land Cruisers, more than a day after rebels claimed they had captured him. According to a Xinhua reporter, both the hotel and the Bab al-Aziziyah compound just across the street apparently are still under the control of Gaddafi's troops, so it is no suprise that Saif could travel between the two locations as he wishes.

Meanwhile, Libya's ambassador to the United States Ali Suleiman Aujali told CNN another son of Gaddafi, Mohammed Gaddafi, who had been captured by the rebels, has escaped. Iraqi press quoted Gaddafi's spokesperson as saying that Mohammed was liberated by Libyan government troops and he is now in a very safe place.

There has been no immediate explanation from the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) which had announced the capture of both Saif and Mohammed.

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SEE ALSO RUSSIAN REPORT:


'Arrested' Gaddafi son meets journalists in Tripoli
August 22, 2011


http://rt.com/news/gaddafi-sons-rebels-detain-557/

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's sons, Saif al Islam, who was earlier reported to have been arrested, has made a surprise appearance in Tripoli and met foreign journalists early on Tuesday morning.

He appeared at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli early Tuesday in a convoy of armored Land Cruisers. Saif al Islam met with journalists of Agence France-Presse, BBC News and Fox News. He said that his father and several of his sisters are indeed alive and well, and that Muammar Gaddafi is still in Tripoli.

“Yes, he is in Tripoli, he is alive and well and we are winning,” he said. “The rebels have been lured into a trap and we will crush them."
“Tripoli is under our control, the situation in the city is OK,” Saif al Islam told journalists.